Doctors hail breakthrough treatment for enlarged prostate

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Ten years ago, during a routine physical, Bill St. John learned he had an enlarged prostate. A few years later, he started having problems.

"The hardest part was at night because I would get up 6-7 times a night and when I would go to bed I would immediately feel like I would have to go to the bathroom. The other problem was traveling, even riding in a car I would constantly be thinking I've got to be aware of where I can stop to go to the bathroom, flying was even more problematic," St. John told WBAY.

After seeing a urologist, St. John started taking medication, which is standard protocol. But after a while it was no longer effective.

"Bottom line that I tell all my patients, if you're a man and you live long enough you're probably going to have some difficulty with urinating. The prostate enlarges as men age," said Dr. Jennifer Burns.

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A year and a half ago, St. John opted for a procedure Burns calls a breakthrough: the UroLift.

An animation of the UroLift procedure shows how it prevents the prostate from blocking the urethra. "This is where the magic happens, this is called the UroLift. So it's really not that large and it just slips on like this and we insert that into the prostate and it goes in and rests against the prostate and it's like a little gun and it just presses against it and fires," said Burns, describing the procedure.

Burns says five years of data show tremendous, lasting results. "People that have had it done have been very excited about it."

"Typically now I get up once during the night, occasionally I might get up twice and once in awhile I don't get up at all," said St. John. "It was really a life changing procedure."

CNN/WBAY