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.