Prostate artery embolisation

I've only heard of it as a treatment for enlarged prostate in the UK, not prostate cancer. It's not very widely available, but I have noticed the Royal Berks at Reading does it.

It works by restricting blood flow in the prostate by blocking the small blood vessels. I have heard that it can be painful while the prostate is being starved of blood, before it shrinks.

Starving the prostate of blood causes ordinary cells to die. Cancer cells can mutate since they lost their ability to repair DNA corruptions, and in low oxygen situations tend to mutate to perform anaerobic respiration, producing lactic acid instead of carbon dioxide (actually, they do this even when there is enough oxygen - it's called The Warburg Effect). Cancer cells also encourage new blood vessel growth, getting around the blocked blood vessels. This means the cancer can continue to grow, but non-cancerous cells can't. If Prostate Artery Embolisation is unknowingly done on a prostate with cancer, the cancer tends to grow much faster afterwards, so it's necessary to closely monitor PSA after Prostate Artery Embolisation.

It's a shame it doesn't work for prostate cancer, because it would probably be a very good minimally invasive treatment option if it did work.

Edited by member 29 Oct 2023 at 17:52  | Reason: Not specified