Study Supporting Prostate Artery Embolization Presented at SIR

March 24, 2014—The Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) announced findings from a study demonstrating that 72% of men with benign prostatic hyperplasia who were treated via prostate artery embolization (PAE) continued to show symptom improvement at 3-year follow-up. Minimally invasive, image-guided PAE is a transcatheter procedure that releases microscopic beads into the artery where they lodge and temporarily block blood flow to the prostate, causing it to shrink. The study was presented at SIR’s 39th Annual Scientific Meeting in San Diego, California, and is available online as Abstract 108 at www.sirmeeting.org.

Martins Pisco, MD, Director of Radiology at Saint Louis Hospital in Lisbon, Portugal, served as lead author of the study. 

In the SIR press release, Dr. Pisco commented, “The results of PAE are similar to surgery, but with fewer complications. Patients are discharged 3 to 6 hours after the treatment, with most of the individuals we’ve treated noting almost immediate symptom relief. I believe PAE could eventually become the standard treatment for enlarged prostate.” 

Dr. Pisco also noted that 148 (31.6%) of the study’s treated patients reported improved sexual function. He added, “Our study confirmed that PAE does not cause sexual dysfunction and preserves fertility. We also found that the larger the prostate, and the more severe the symptoms are, the better the results of PAE.” 

As summarized by SIR, the success rates in 469 patients (ages 45−89 years) treated with PAE were 87.2% at 3 months, 80.2% at 18 months, and 72.3% at 3 years. One patient experienced lack of blood flow to the bladder wall that was corrected by surgery, and one patient had pain that lasted for 3 months. In cases when the problem recurred, it often could be retreated with PAE, advised Dr. Pisco. 

SIR noted that PAE is currently the focus of several trials in the United States. The society’s President-Elect James B. Spies, MD, who is a Principal Investigator on one of those ongoing PAE trials, advised that this treatment is an advanced embolization procedure requiring rigorous training and a detailed knowledge of the prostate anatomy and surrounding vessels. Dr. Spies is Chair of the Radiology Department at Medstar Georgetown University Hospital and Professor of Radiology at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, DC.

In the SIR press release, Dr. Spies commented, “These results are very promising for American men. Interventional radiologists are leaders in bringing forth new treatments, such as these, responsibly.” He added that additional study is needed to further establish the safety, efficacy, and durability of this treatment before it will become broadly available in clinical practice.