News

First comprehensive symposium in Africa on prostate artery embolisation

Symposium aims to familiarise doctors in new procedure for men with severely enlarged prostates

Friday, January 27 2017

Netcare Sunninghill Hospital in Johannesburg is to host the first comprehensive symposium in Africa on prostate artery embolisation, a recently introduced treatment option for treating men who suffer from symptoms related to enlarged prostate, on 16 and 17 March 2017.

According to Dr Stephen Cornish, a urologist who founded the prostate artery embolisation (PAE) unit at Netcare Sunninghill Hospital, says that the PAE procedure has achieved excellent outcomes in patients with severely enlarged prostates, or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), both internationally and now also locally.

“The symposium aims to improve knowledge about, and to keep doctors abreast of, the latest management options for benign prostatic hyperplasia, which in severe cases may cause a number of debilitating symptoms.

“The event will include an in-depth review of local and international experience with PAE, and explore patient selection, pre-operative work-up, procedural aspects as well as complication profiles. The role of the urologist in selecting the most appropriate treatment modality for the patient will also be discussed,” adds Dr Cornish.

In addition, there will be case based discussions, as well as two live cases performed by interventional radiologist, Dr Andrew Lawson, under the proctorship of Dr Nigel Hacking from the United Kingdom. Dr Hacking is an international proctor for PAE and currently one of the world’s leading interventional radiologists performing this procedure.

Dr Lawson, who together with Dr Cornish and radiologist, Dr Farrell Spiro, established the PAE unit at Netcare Sunninghill Hospital in 2016, says that the symposium aims to facilitate the introduction of PAE to South Africa, and familiarise urologists and interventional radiologists from around the country with the concept of PAE, which is relatively new to South Africa and not yet widely employed as a treatment option for BPH.

“Urologists, interventional radiologists and other medical professionals with an interest in BPH and PAE would benefit from the symposium, which is worth 13 CPD points, including nine clinical and four ethical,” he adds.

The PAE unit at Netcare Sunninghill Hospital is the first of its kind to be established in Africa, and received full international accreditation late in 2016. Dr Farrell Spiro and Dr Andrew Lawson are the principal interventional radiologists involved in offering the PAE service at Netcare Sunninghill Hospital.

“The PAE unit at Netcare Sunninghill Hospital has reached a new level of maturity and we are now in a position to explore outcomes and patient experiences,” says Dr Lawson. “We organised two highly successful two-day live PAE workshops during 2016 leading up to our accreditation. The PAE symposium to be held this March will build on this,” he adds.

“We are delighted with the early results that have already been achieved in our new unit. While we have yet to observe long-term outcomes, all of the procedures that we have done so far have been successful and have resulted in a meaningful reduction in patient symptoms and improved quality of life.”

According to Dr Lawson, an enlarged prostate, or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), is the most common non-cancerous prostate medical condition to develop in men by the time they reach their 60s.

“Thousands of older South African men who suffer from prostate enlargement live with a number of uncomfortable symptoms, including trouble urinating, dribbling, and/or a frequent need to urinate, particularly at night.

“Both locally and internationally, PAE is proving a valuable new treatment option for this condition and we are pleased that we are able to offer this educational symposium to improve awareness of BPH and the range of treatment options that are now available locally,” concludes Dr Lawson.

For further information on the symposium or to register please contact Esme Jooste on email [email protected], or go to www.prostatecare.co.za. Registrations must be received by no later than 28 February 2017.

Ends

Issued by:    Martina Nicholson Associates (MNA) on behalf of Netcare
Contact:    Martina Nicholson, Graeme Swinney, or Meggan Saville
Telephone:    (011) 469 3016
Email:    [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected]