What is the procedure for interrupting blood flow to the prostate gland? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Interrupting blood flow to the prostate gland is one treatment for BPH, or benign prostatic hyperplasia, a condition that most men will develop as they age. Brian Holly, an interventional radiologist at Johns Hopkins, describes what is done in prostate artery embolization.

Holly: We take some pictures with our X-ray camera and then we inject microscopic little particles into the blood vessel they flow out with the flow of blood and get trapped in the prostate gland, in the vessels and where they get trapped is those are the vessels that they block. All said and done the procedure itself takes somewhere between one and two hours. As long as they're able to pass some urine in the recovery area we get them home the same day. The procedure if I quote patients is effective in 80% of men, our experience with it so far has been overwhelmingly positive. It's minimally invasive, the side effect profile is great and it really does work well for a lot of guys :32

Alternatives to prostate artery embolization include surgical treatment or medications. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.