Baptist Health Louisville first Ky. hospital with new treatment for benign prostate enlargement, which affects 40% of adult men

Baptist Health Louisville says it is the first in Kentucky to offer an "advanced, minimally invasive treatment" to help men who suffer from an enlarged prostate gland, or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Its sister hospital, Baptist Health Floyd, is the only full-service hospital in Southern Indiana offering the therapy.

Robots are used for the procedure, trademarked as Aquablation. In it, a surgeon reaches the prostate through the urinary bladder and uses jets of salt water to eliminate blocking tissue, reducing the risk for incontinence and sexual side effects that are associated with traditional BPH surgery and other procedures.

Dr. Christopher Smith completed the first four cases using the method at Baptist Health Louisville, and said in a news release that he was very pleased with the outcomes. The release said, "Three of the four patients went home the next day and the fourth patient was discharged on the second day."

About 40 percent of adult men develop some enlargement of the prostate, which produces seminal fluid. Because it surrounds the urethra and is next to the bladder, an enlarged prostate usually causes more frequent and sometimes painful urination. Medications are available but have side effects, and about one-fourth of men over 50 who develop such symptoms will require surgery, according to a 2018 article in the peer-reviewed journal Therapeutic Advances in Urology, which described Aquablation.

 

Exercise, even moderate, can help improve symptoms of anxiety

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Moderate to strenuous exercise can help alleviate symptoms of anxiety, even in chronic cases, according to a recent study in Sweden.

A study from the University of Gothenburg looked at 286 participants from Gothenburg area and split them into three groups. One group performed moderate exercise for 12 weeks, another group performed strenuous exercise for twelve weeks, and one group received advice on physical activity. The exercise groups had 60-minute workout sessions three days a week and performed cardio and strength training. Both groups saw improvements in anxiety, but the non-exercise group did not. The study was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

“There was a significant intensity trend for improvement—that is, the more intensely they exercised, the more their anxiety symptoms improved,” said Malin Henriksson, the study's first author.

Standard treatments for anxiety include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and psychotropic drugs, but both treatments have drawbacks. Drugs commonly have side effects and frequently don't improve patients' anxiety, and long waiting times for CBT can worsen the disorder. The study offers another option for doctors treating patients with the disorder.

“Doctors in primary care need treatments that are individualized, have few side effects, and are easy to prescribe. The model involving 12 weeks of physical training, regardless of intensity, represents an effective treatment that should be made available in primary health care more often for people with anxiety issues,” Åberg says.