New prostate treatment is life changing - patient

Lloyd Wadey said the iTIND treatment he had was "transformational" and "life changing"

Surgeons across the South East have started offering a new treatment to patients with an enlarged prostate.

BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia) is a progressive disease that can affect men as young as 30, with an estimated 4.4 million struggling with the condition daily.

Awareness around prostate health increased after King Charles underwent a procedure earlier this year to treat an enlarged prostate.

Neil Barber, clinical lead for urology at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, in Surrey, said the new iTIND treatment is a "game changer".

BPH, a noncancerous enlargement of the prostate gland, is the most common benign tumor found in men.

It is generally treated with surgery that can involve up to three days in hospital and carries a very small risk of "serious complications".

But the iTIND procedure involves the temporary implantation of a device that reshapes the prostate tissue.

The insertion takes less than six minutes and can be done during an outpatient appointment.

The treatment causes a loss of blood flow which in turn leads to cells dying in the enlargement, helping to expand the channel allowing urine to flow.

Patients can usually go home within a few hours of having it.

'A miracle'

Lloyd Wadey, 56, from Brighton, who received the treatment in a clinical trial at Frimley Park Hospital, said having an enlarged prostate had impacted his social life.

He said that when he travelled he had to make sure he always had "access to toilets", which added to his "anxiety and made things more stressful".

He described life after the treatment as "nothing short of a miracle".

The procedure involves the temporary implantation of a device that reshapes the prostate tissue

The procedure is not suitable for all men with an enlarged prostate.

Mr Barber said that for younger men it is an "alternative to tablets, an alternative to surgery".

King Charles, 75, had treatment for an enlarged prostate at the London Clinic private hospital in January.

He said he had made his health problem public as a way of sending a message to other men to get their prostates checked.

Mr Barber said that after King Charles announced his prostate surgery "it kind of demystifies it a little bit" and that having prostate issues "is what happens to men as we get older".

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