Q: As we age, are there regular urological screenings that you recommend?
A: Absolutely. Men who are over 50 must have a prostate specific antigen (PSA). This is a simple blood test that will let us know if someone has prostate cancer. If caught in the very early stages, the disease is highly curable or controllable. In the future, radioactive seed implantation will be available at ELIH for advanced prostate disease.
Q: Many senior men suffer from enlarged prostates. How can you help them?
A: For enlarged prostates that do not respond to medication, we use the Greenlight Laser® to open the prostate channel. It is minimally invasive with no bleeding involved. A urinary catheter is removed after a few days and the patient’s ability to urinate is improved immediately.
Q: What are some other symptoms that indicate someone should see an urologist?
A: A sharp pain in the back, the flank or groin or blood in the urine could mean that a patient has a kidney stone. We can treat this with extra corporeal shock wave lithotripsy. This is a non-invasive procedure involving high frequency sound waves from outside the body. Other patients might need to have the stone removed via endoscopic surgery. Both procedures now can be performed at ELIH.
Q: How do you help women who suffer from incontinence?
A: As we get on in years, it is very common for women to experience some leakage of urine. Sometimes the leakage becomes so heavy that even sanitary pads cannot contain the excess urine. We alleviate this problem with a procedure called vaginal tape procedure. It is an out patient vaginal procedure that takes half an hour. The patient leaves the hospital dry. This method also has a quick recovery.
Q: What do you do for those who have an increased urgency to urinate?
A: We first approach this situation with medication. Unfortunately, medication does not always help control the frequent urges. When this happens, we use an Interstim®, or a sacral nerve stimulator. It is like a pacemaker for the bladder.
Scott Press, MD, is a board certified urologist at Eastern Long Island Hospital with office hours at the Medical Village in Greenport.
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