Providence Saint John’s Health Center to offer Aquablation therapy Innovative robotic procedure provides non-invasive pathway to remove excess prostate tissue

Providence Saint John’s Health Center is now equipped to offer Aquablation therapy, a state-of-the-art robotic procedure to treat men with enlarged prostates. The condition, if left untreated, can cause serious health problems, including irreversible bladder or kidney damage, bladder stones, poor urinary flow and incontinence.

Aquablation therapy is performed by the AquaBeam Robotic System, the first FDA-cleared, surgical robot utilizing automated tissue resection for the treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms due to Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), a non-cancerous condition where the prostate has grown to be larger than normal.

The procedure is minimally invasive, using a powerful water jet – nearly the speed of sound – to remove excess prostate tissue. Combining both cystoscopic visualization and ultrasound imaging, surgeons can create a personalized treatment plan tailored to each patient’s anatomy.

With real-time ultrasound and direct vision through a tiny camera inserted through the urethra, the robot controls the tissue removal. Studies show the procedure is safe, highly effective and guards against complications including sexual side effects and incontinence.

“Having access to this kind of leading-edge surgical capability is an exciting prospect that provides a non-invasive method of treatment for those suffering from BPH that can offer significant and long-lasting symptom relief with lower risk to sexual function or continence,” said Dr. Mehran Movassaghi, director for men’s health and a urologist at Providence Saint John’s who will perform Aquablation therapy.

This innovative robotic procedure offers predictable and reproducible outcomes, independent of prostate shape or size, or surgeon experience [1,2,3,4]. Other BPH surgical treatments often force men to tradeoff between symptom relief and side effects, limiting patients to choose between either a high degree of symptom relief with high rates of irreversible complications such as incontinence erectile dysfunction, or a low degree of symptom relief with low rates of irreversible complications.

“We are proud to be among the first to offer this treatment,” Dr. Movassaghi said, “and I think it is further evidence of Providence Saint John’s commitment to utilizing the latest surgical technology to improve outcomes and reliability for our patients.”

Submitted by Patricia Aidem