What Are The Risks Of A Laminectomy
As with any surgical procedure, complications can occur. Some possible complications may include:
- Blood clots in the legs or lungs
- Spinal cord or nerve root injury
- Risks linked to the use of general anesthesia
Nerve or blood vessels in the area of surgery may be injured. This can cause weakness or numbness. The pain may not be eased by the surgery or may become worse, although this is rare.
There may be other risks depending on your specific health condition. Be sure to discuss any concerns with your healthcare provider before the surgery.
Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy
This technique uses advanced image guided techniques to deliver large doses of radiation to a precise area, such as the prostate. Because there are large doses of radiation in each dose, the entire course of treatment is given over just a few days.
SBRT is often known by the names of the machines that deliver the radiation, such as Gamma Knife, X-Knife, CyberKnife, and Clinac.
The main advantage of SBRT over IMRT is that the treatment takes less time . The side effects, though, are not better. In fact, some research has shown that some side effects might actually be worse with SBRT than with IMRT.
Transurethral Incision Of The Prostate
During a TUIP procedure, a surgeon will make several small incisions in your prostate instead of removing portions of your prostate. This gives your prostate room to expand without cutting off the flow of urine through your urethra.
TUIP is typically used to treat milder cases of enlarged prostate. Its possible your prostate will continue to grow and you will need additional treatments later. Following the surgery, you may need to wear a catheter for up to a week to help drain your bladder.
A TUIP procedure is much less invasive than a TURP procedure. Your recovery time should be less. Your doctor will likely send you home following the procedure.
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Bleeding After Prostate Surgery
Bleeding after prostate surgery is among the most common problems. To prevent the problem, a drain system is installed in the surgical area, and in addition to this system, some treatments are also performed to prevent bleeding. Although bleeding after prostate surgery is not a sign of important problems, you should definitely contact your physician if the condition has become chronic.
There is a number of risks that can occur after prostate surgery. These risks may include urination problems, urinary incontinence, bleeding, and sexual dysfunction. In this article, we will talk about the bleeding problem faced after prostate surgery.
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Symptomatic treatment of an enlarged prostate usually involves a combination of medication and lifestyle changes. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables may be the best option if you suffer from chronic urination. It will help the body adjust to the increased size of the prostate. Also, taking regular urination intervals will help retrain the bladder to function properly. Inactivity also contributes to urine retention, and cold temperatures can increase the urge to urinate.
Invasive treatment of enlarged prostate includes medication that relieves the pressure on the urethra and bladder. However, if the condition is severe, it may require surgical intervention. If treatment is not successful, the enlarged prostate can become a potentially life-threatening disease. As the hormone levels in the body change, the enlarged prostate can lead to various complications, including urinary retention and even cancer. This is why it is critical to see a doctor for further evaluation.
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Possible Side Effects Of Radiation Treatment
There are possible side effects associated with radiation therapy. Some people may not experience any side effects. Others may experience mild or bothersome side effects.
Some side effects may only last a short period of time, and others may last longer or forever. Side effects may occur at the time of treatment or could develop months after treatment.
Most side effects are manageable by your radiation team and last only a short time. Before starting treatment, your doctor will discuss possible side effects and their duration.
Because we use advanced targeting technology, the probability of side effects is lower.
Possible side effects include:
Bowel Issues Because radiation treatment is so close to the rectum, it could cause irritation. This irritation could cause soreness, blood in your stool, or rectal leakage. Most of the time these issues are temporary, but in rare cases, normal bowel function does not return. Because patients use a rectal balloon during each treatment, the likelihood of rectal issues is lower.
Urinary Issues Radiation can cause irritation to the bladder. This can cause urinary frequency, urgency and a burning sensation. If these problems occur, they generally go away after time.
Keeping your activity level up will result in less fatigue and feeling better.
Keeping your activity level up will result in less fatigue and you will feel better overall.
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Getting Ready For Surgery
You and your care team will work together to get ready for your surgery. Help us keep you safe during your surgery by telling us if any of the following statements apply to you, even if youre not sure.
- I take a blood thinner, such as:
About Drinking Alcohol
The amount of alcohol you drink can affect you during and after your surgery. Its important to talk with your healthcare providers about how much alcohol you drink. This will help us plan your care.
- If you stop drinking alcohol suddenly, it can cause seizures, delirium, and death. If we know youre at risk for these problems, we can prescribe medications to help keep them from happening.
- If you drink alcohol regularly, you may be at risk for other problems during and after your surgery. These include bleeding, infections, heart problems, and a longer hospital stay.
Here are things you can do before your surgery to keep from having problems:
- Be honest with your healthcare providers about how much alcohol you drink.
- Try to stop drinking alcohol once your surgery is planned. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you:
- Get a headache.
- For information about being a health care agent, read How to Be a Health Care Agent.
- If you have more questions about filling out a Health Care Proxy form, talk with your healthcare provider.
Sperm banking
Male Sexual and Reproductive Medicine Program
Exercise
For Caregivers
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Difficulty Getting An Erection
Radiotherapy can damage the nerves that control getting an erection.
Whether you have problems getting and keeping an erection depends on:
- whether you have other health conditions
- whether you had erection problems before the treatment
- if you have hormone therapy before or after the radiotherapy
- whether you have internal radiotherapy as well as external radiotherapy
Tell your doctor or specialist nurse as soon as possible if you have erection problems. They should refer you to a specialist to help you with this.
Early treatment with medicines such as sildenafil or apomorphine hydrochloride might help you to get and keep erections.
How Do Bowel Problems Develop
Bowel problems related to prostate cancer or its treatment can be difficult to predict. Occasionally, a tumor in the prostate may grow and start pressing on other nearby structures in the pelvis, producing bowel-related issues. Other times, these issues can be a sign of advanced prostate cancer that has metastasized to the spine. In this situation, cancerous tumors can destroy spinal bones and disrupt or damage the nerves in the spinal cord that control bowel functioning. Another way these symptoms can develop is as a result of prostate cancer treatment, such as radiation therapy, surgery, or chemotherapy.
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How Are Bladder And Bowel Issues Evaluated
Evaluating bladder and bowel problems, especially if their underlying source is endometriosis, may be particularly challenging since many similarly presenting conditions have the ability to cause these issues. As an example of this potential difficulty, an individual may go to their general practitioner with a complaint of pain while urinating or defecating. Their primary care doctor may then send them to a gastroenterologist to determine what could be impacting their bowel function, as well as to a urologist to look at their bladder. These specialists may speculate a bowel or bladder-only related condition, and not consider endometriosis. It may take a long time for other non-endometriosis causes to be ruled out, which may not even occur until the individual starts experiencing other symptoms that might bring them to their OB-GYN, who then might suspect endometriosis.4
Conversely, if an individual is having pelvic pain and difficulty while defecating, they may be sent directly to an OB-GYN, but have a gastrointestinal-related condition rather than endometriosis. Since all of these conditions are very similar and are sometimes treated or investigated in different ways, it may take some time for all of the pieces to come together.
How Can I Manage Bowel Problems Myself
Living with bowel problems can be distressing, and for a lot of men it’s not an easy thing to talk about. But remember that doctors and nurses often help men with these issues. They’re used to discussing the problem and finding ways to deal with it.You may find it helpful to plan ahead and find out where toilets are before you go out, and carry absorbent pads.If you are having problems with diarrhoea, eating less fibre for a short time may help. Low fibre foods include white rice, pasta and bread, potatoes , cornmeal, eggs and lean white meat. Speak to your doctor, nurse or radiographer before changing your diet.
Foods such as beans and pulses, cruciferous vegetables , fizzy drinks and beer can all cause wind and bloating so you may want to avoid these. Chewing your food slowly can also help.
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How Is Urinary Incontinence After Prostate Surgery Treated
If you find youre having issues with mild to moderate leakage after surgery, your healthcare provider might suggest starting with noninvasive therapies like medications or physical therapy exercises for the pelvic floor muscles. These treatments may also cut down on the number of times that you have to get up each night to pee.
These methods can sometimes help men who have mild to moderate leakage. Men who have persistent leakage or a more severe problem may need surgery if they do not want to continue to use pads.
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An enlarged prostate can also be the cause of other problems. If the enlarged prostate is causing symptoms, the best treatment would be a natural remedy. In the meantime, there are treatments for a wide range of conditions that cause a man to experience pain. A common surgical procedure involves an electric loop, laser, or electro-stimulation. The procedure is a safe and effective option for treating enlarged or symptomatic BPH.
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Problems With Your Bowels And Back Passage
Your bowel movements might be looser or more frequent than before your treatment. You might need to take anti diarrhoea medicines, such as loperamide . Bulking agents, such as Fybogel might also help.
You might find that you need to avoid high fibre foods as it might make long term diarrhoea worse. Some people find it best to avoid high fibre vegetables, beans and pulses .
Inflammation of the back passage is another possible long term side effect. Proctitis can cause a feeling of wanting to strain whether or not you actually need to pass a bowel movement. You might also have bleeding from your back passage or a slimy mucous discharge.
Talk to your doctor or specialist nurse if you have any of these side effects. They will be able to refer you to a specialist team that can help you to find ways of controlling the effects.
The Morning Of Your Surgery
Instructions for Drinking Before Your Surgery
You can drink a total of 12 ounces of water between midnight and 2 hours before your scheduled arrival time. Do not drink anything else.Do not drink anything starting 2 hours before your scheduled arrival time. This includes water.
Take Your Medications As Instructed
A member of your care team will tell you which medications to take the morning of your surgery. Take only those medications with a sip of water. Depending on what medications you take, this may be all, some, or none of your usual morning medications.
Shower With a 4% CHG Solution Antiseptic Skin Cleanser
Shower with a 4% CHG solution antiseptic skin cleanser before you leave for the hospital. Use it the same way you did the night before.
Do not put on any lotion, cream, deodorant, makeup, powder, perfume, or cologne after your shower.
Things to remember
- Wear something comfortable and loose-fitting.
- If you wear contact lenses, wear your glasses instead. Wearing contact lenses during surgery can damage your eyes.
- Dont wear any metal objects. Remove all jewelry, including body piercings. The equipment used during your surgery can cause burns if it touches metal.
- Dont put on any lotion, cream, deodorant, makeup, powder, perfume, or cologne.
- Leave valuable items at home.
What to bring
Once youre in the hospital
Get dressed for surgery
When its time to change for surgery, youll get a hospital gown, robe, and nonskid socks to wear.
Meet With a Nurse
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Fast Facts On Bph Surgery:
- Surgery is rarely the first line of treatment for BPH.
- A doctor who specializes in the urinary tract does most TURP surgeries.
- TURP is considered a fairly safe, effective procedure for treating BPH.
According to the American Urological Association, transurethral resection of the prostate or TURP is the most common type of surgery used to treat BPH. Every year, doctors perform it on around 150,000 American men.
Surgeons perform most TURP procedures when the patient is under general anesthesia and unconscious or asleep.
Alternatively, they use spinal anesthesia, where a needle is placed in the spine to stop any sensation below the waist.
Inflammation Of The Back Passage
Inflammation of the back passage is a long term side effect. Proctitis can cause a feeling of wanting to strain whether or not you actually need to pass a bowel movement. You might also have bleeding from your back passage or a slimy mucous discharge.
Bleeding is usually slight but can be more severe for some people. Talk to your radiographer or nurse if you have proctitis. They might suggest you use treatments such as steroid suppositories for a short time. This might reduce the inflammation.
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Excluding Other Causes Of Gi Symptoms After Cancer Treatment
Different pathological processes can produce identical symptoms, for example diarrhoea has at least 13 different mechanisms.13 As demonstrated in the above case studies, GI symptoms after cancer treatment are complex and within a specialist setting, less frequently occurring diagnoses are made more commonly. However, other causes of GI symptoms and factors unrelated to cancer treatment, such as the psychological effect of a cancer diagnosis and its treatment, changes in diet, new GI disease or pre-existing underlying conditions, may also result in GI symptoms.79
Mistakes When Removing The Prostate
Other errors relate to how doctors perform surgery. Doctors have several methods for removing a prostate:
- Open surgery, where the surgeon cuts into the abdomen to reach the prostate
- Laparoscopic surgery, where small holes are created in the abdomen
- Transurethral resection, where the surgeon reaches the prostate via the urethra
The correct choice of procedure depends on many factors, such as the size of the prostate. When it is too large, transurethral resection makes less sense and can, in fact, lead to injury.
A careless surgeon could also damage nerves and fail to sterilize a wound. Some complications, such as incontinence, are commonat least initiallythough they should clear up after a month or two. But infections and permanent erectile dysfunction could stem from surgical error.
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Life After Bowel Surgery
Having sex
You will need time to get over surgery before having sex again. Give yourself at least six weeks after major surgery.
The effects mentioned below dont affect everyone who has bowel cancer treatment. Some of the problems may get better over time. But some changes can be permanent. You may feel very embarrassed to talk to doctors or nurses about sexual problems. But if you tell them about any problems you have, they can find ways of helping you to deal with them.
After surgery you might notice changes to your bowels including:
- pooing more often
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Incontinence After Prostate Surgery Forums
Going through prostate cancer and having your prostate removed can be a physically and emotionally trying time in life. Many men are unprepared for the extent to which they may experience bladder leaks after prostate removal and it can be disheartening to have undergone surgery only to experience a loss of bladder control for a period afterward.
Fortunately, this is usually resolved within a year. During that time though, you may find that you need someone to talk to about your experience. Finding a forum or message board filled with people who can relate can help ease some of the tensions that you may be going through.
The NAFC message boards are a great way to connect with others who may also be experiencing incontinence, due to prostate surgery or other conditions. Theyre free to join and the forum is anonymous so you can speak freely without the worry of feeling embarrassed or ashamed. NAFC is proud of this amazing group of individuals who visit the forums and courageously share their stories, offer support, and provide inspiration to each other. We encourage you to check it out!
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