Science / Medicine : 2 New Procedures Ease Urinary Problems in Men

Elderly men who have difficulty urinating because of an enlarged prostate may be able to avoid surgery with two alternative procedures, doctors from the United States and Britain said last week.

Up to 60% of men beyond age 60 suffer the discomforting symptoms of a narrowed or blocked urinary tract caused by an inflamed prostate. Surgery to reduce the size of the gland can cause impotence and other problems. The prostate produces a fluid that is a major constituent of semen.

Doctors at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Minneapolis used a balloon catheter to successfully widen the urinary channels without surgery in 66% of 70 patients between ages 59 and 95, they reported at the annual Radiological Society of North America meeting.

However, doctors at London’s Hammersmith Hospital said that implantation of a tiny wire mesh cylinder to hold the tract open produced much better results in patients with severely obstructed urinary tracts.