What can a man expect from prostate artery embolization? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Prostate artery embolization is a noninvasive treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia, where the prostate enlarges and can cause urinary symptoms. The condition occurs in most men as they age. Brian Holly, an interventional radiologist at Johns Hopkins, says about 80% of those treated will see improvement.

Holly: After the procedure guys can expect maybe about a week or so of their symptoms being a little worse. We chalked that up to a little inflammation of the gland. Some over the counter anti inflammatories we usually take care of that and they're back to baseline in about a week.  The biggest thing to remember is that it takes time for the gland to shrink down. I talk to all the patients again about a month after the procedure just to make sure everything's going well I'd say it's about 50:50 whether or not guys are starting to notice improvement at that point. Somewhere between one and three months after the procedure is when symptoms should start to improve and that'll kind of peak at about six months or so       :32

Holly says medicines are sometimes used to treat the condition and there is also a surgical procedure. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.