Researchers Working on a Nonsurgical Treatment For Enlarged Prostate
Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (PEMF) can significantly reduce the size of the prostate starting after just one week of treatment, according to a new study. The newly devised therapy is totally non-invasive, drug-free and the treatment is quick and painless.
The findings of the study are finally offering some hope as an alternative to surgery for treating enlarged prostate.
Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) is one of the most frequently diagnosed medical disorders in older men and affects quality of life for a third of men over 50. In US alone, people spend $3.9 billion annually on its complications.
"Benign prostatic hyperplasia is an important and under-recognized health issue for men. There is a great need for development of effective and safe alternatives to current treatment options," noted Abraham Morgentaler, MD, FACS, Director of Men's Health Boston and Associate Clinical Professor of Urology at Harvard Medical School, in the press release.
Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy is a very low frequency pulsed energy waves which is often used to speed recovery or to reduce post-surgical side effects. The device producing energy is a handheld device, little wider than a TV remote control. It has been also used safely and effectively in humans for treating other conditions, like circulatory problems. However, researchers are yet to explain how exactly it works.
"Previous studies have suggested that reduced blood flow to the prostate gland and resulting inflammation contribute to the development of BPH. We know that PEMF has positive effects on similar conditions, so we thought it might also heal BPH or maybe even prevent BPH from developing," said lead scientist on the study, Dr. Raffaella Leoci.
Researchers in their trial, treated 20 affected dogs with PEMF for 5 minutes, twice a day for three weeks and found that their size of the prostate gland decreased on average by 57 percent.
"Traditionally, dogs affected by symptomatic BPH were treated like men, using drugs or surgery," explained Dr. Leoci. "Reproduction becomes impossible as both therapies, pharmacological or surgical, arrest the production of testosterone. This can be a problem for working or breeding dogs."
"Many men are interested in minimally invasive therapies for lower urinary tract symptoms," noted Alan Shindel, MD, Assistant Professor of Urology at UC Davis Health System in the press release. "It would be great to have a new option such as pulsed electromagnetic field therapy for BPH. This preliminary study in an animal model is promising, but more research is needed to determine how effective (and safe) this procedure would be in human men."
The study is published in the online version of the journal The Prostate.
PEMF DISCOVERY MAKING NEWS
Non-surgical treatment for enlarged prostate is going to be reality in the days to come. Experts have used pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (PEMF) to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).
This is some great news for people who are suffering from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Now these people may not be required to go for surgery.
Researchers have said that tests conducted on dogs suffering from the problems have been conducted and all such tests seem to have been very successful. They are of the opinion that if they can work so effectively on dogs, this non-invasive process should also succeed in the case of men.
There is no denying the fact that the problem is common and if this non-invasive process is successful it will help a large number of people across the world. Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common urological condition caused by the non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate gland as men get older. As the prostate enlarges, it can squeeze down on the urethra. The symptoms associated with BPH are known as lower urinary tract symptoms. This can cause men to have trouble urinating and leads to symptoms of BPH. The symptoms associated with BPH are known as lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). As a man ages, his prostate may become larger and start to cause urinary symptoms and other problems.
Researchers say that the method used in the study to treat dogs with BPH was pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (PEMF). They say that it is a non-invasive method that generates both an electrical and magnetic field and is used in orthopedics, neurology, and urology.
Raffaella Leoci the leader of the study says, “Previous studies have suggested that reduced blood flow to the prostate gland and resulting inflammation contribute to the development of BPH. We know that PEMF has positive effects on similar conditions, so we thought it might also heal BPH or may be even prevent BPH from developing”. Leoci is a senior researcher at University of Bari in Italy.
Samples from over 2000 Medical PEMF Studies
It is no surprise that the Medical and Research communities have embraced PEMF technology, performing thousands of university double blind studies on its application regarding a myriad of medical issues. The National Institute of Health (NIH) provides an online resource for hundreds of thousands of case studies for all types of medical treatments. Specifically, case studies for the application of PEMF technology utilized in treatments may be found at the NIH site called www.PubMed.gov.
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