Hear I Go Again: My URO Says HoLEP Better Than PVP

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Dan - 22 Sep 2003 18:57 GMT

I have posted here before because my urologist had recommended (2
years ago) that I get HoLEP. Of course, I have been putting off any
surgery as long as I can. I now have a 117 gram prostate, 7 negative
PCa biopsiesand, recently I have had a very a bad irritation.

This past week I have suffered for 10 days from an irritated prostate
and can hardly urinate. I have taken CIPRO for the past 7 days and
also Vicodin and Phenazopyrid for the pain. It has worked some, but I
can still hardly urinate.

So with all that, I stopped by to see my urologist to disuses
face-to-face both PVP and HoLEP. The last time I conversed with him
was by letter. Actually, there are two uros in the office who work
together. Both said that PVP was actually more detrimental to the
prostate in terms of people having problems afterwards. Something
about the high power energy of the laser that hurts things. They
basically said the opposite of all the things I have read about here
on this site and also what Dr Lin told me, which was: "laser
enucleation of the prostate, that is holmium laser prostatectomy, is a
very invasive procedure, time consuming surgery, and more risk than
PVP".

All these conflicting inputs is very frustrating, especially when your
prostate is bothering you so much and you know something needs to be
done sooner rather than later. I need to find someone who is very
experienced with large glands. I want to avoid retrograde ejaculation
and other complications as much as it is possible (HoLEP = almost 100%
retrograde).

I was thinking maybe Dr Te in NY would be the right person for
me...and I have family in NY. Do any of you know if Dr Te is the kind
of doctor who would talk to people like me on the phone about my
situation? Does he do email like Dr Lin?

Dan in Dayton, Ohio

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Derry Argue - 22 Sep 2003 20:49 GMT

> there are two uros in the office who work
> together. Both said that PVP was actually more detrimental to the
> prostate in terms of people having problems afterwards. Something
> about the high power energy of the laser that hurts things. They
> basically said the opposite of all the things I have read about here
> on this site

Dan,

Do yourself a favour and ask them to state their references. It will be
interesting to hear what they say in the face of over whelming evidence on
this group if nothing else.

Derry

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Bruce Siegel - 22 Sep 2003 21:50 GMT

> Dan,
>
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> Derry

Yes--and then please do report back to us what they say, Dan. I'm sure I'm
not the only who'd like to hear how they respond.

Bruce

Reply to this Message

Barry - 23 Sep 2003 03:11 GMT

> > Dan,
> >
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
> Bruce

I think you're on the right track by looking elsewhere. It is very
important that you get all the facts before you make a decision. When
it comes to PVP, I've found that some doctors have tunnel vision
against the procedure. This is due to the fact that they have had bad
experiences with lasers in the past, or they are not trained in the
PVP procedure. I've heard good things about Dr. Te.
Good luck.

Barry

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Lee M. - 23 Sep 2003 00:57 GMT

If I had thousands of $ invested in equipment and lots of experience with a
particular method of treatment, I'd probably be skeptical of the new kid on
the block also. The anecdotal evidence presented here indicates that most
urologists are not inclined to stray from the method of treatment they've
been using which is why something new like PVP is slow to catch on, no
matter how much better it seems to be.

> I have posted here before because my urologist had recommended (2
> years ago) that I get HoLEP. Of course, I have been putting off any
[quoted text clipped - 31 lines]
>
> Dan in Dayton, Ohio

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Frederic E Henzi - 23 Sep 2003 04:34 GMT

Dan,

You are in terrible distress and should take action. Many men in the NG have
had PVP by now and most are very happy, me included. I'm convinced that PVP
is here to stay and will replace TURP, the old "gold standard".
In my humble opinion, contact a PVP doctor and go for it. You owe no
allegiance to your regular uro and his bag of tricks.
If you can afford to go out of town, there are several uros who do large
prostates. You may ask the NG who they are.
I traveled from Seattle to Dr Laub in California because there was nobody in
my neck of the woods who did PVP then. I don't know if Dr. Laub does large
prostates. To my surprise, he returned my initial call within 30 minutes and
we had good chat. After that, I decided to go for it with him, and I'm glad
I did.
Within 24 hours BPH misery disapeared. I walked and drove a rental car and
we did some sightseeing in Santa Barbara.
PVP is real surgery though, and requires several weeks of easy going, but
you can pee freely.
Life is good again..

Good luck

Fred Henzi

> I have posted here before because my urologist had recommended (2
> years ago) that I get HoLEP. Of course, I have been putting off any
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Dan in Dayton, Ohio

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