Ultrasound energy can be focused with exquisite precision to produce temperatures hotter than 65 degrees within a few seconds. The focus is so sharp that areas outside it—even those a fraction of an inch away—are not heated or damaged. The ultrasound works like a scalpel (and in this precision, HIFU has a key advantage over [...]

Uroflowmetry. Your doctor may decide to measure the speed of your urinary stream and the amount of urine you pass. This is accomplished as you urinate into an electronic machine (while you’re alone in a testing room). To ensure an accurate result, it’s important that you urinate at least five or six ounces. This test [...]

Until recently, a widespread treatment called “hemi-body” irradiation was commonly used to ease pain in prostate cancer patients with metastases to bone in several places. Hemi-body irradiation involved what radiologists call “wide fields” of radiation—large expanses of the body, and comparatively high doses of radiation. The problem was that this often wiped out key blood-forming [...]

Interstitial brachytherapy is basically hand-to-hand combat, instead of missiles launched from far away. The idea here is that the farther energy gets from its source—the more tissue a radiation beam has to pass through to reach its target-—the less effective it will be in killing cancer. And that implanting tiny sources of radiation directly in [...]

Similar to the retropubic procedure in terms of before-surgery preparation and recovery, the radical perineal approach offers some advantages over that technique: There’s less bleeding, because the major vein system that overlies the prostate (the dorsal vein complex) is not removed with the prostate. However, this also means that surgeons aren’t able to cut out [...]

Infertility afflicts about one couple in 6 or 7 but nevertheless lies somewhat outside the scope of this book. Because so many abortions are being done fewer babies are available for adoption so the topic is becoming one of increasing importance. With the constant coverage of ‘test-tube’ methods in the popular press infertility, once a [...]

Very little information is available on how commonly sexual problems and difficulties occur, and there is no way of getting accurate figures on the subject. In the USA it is estimated that sexual problems affect half of all marriages at some time or another and one survey in Britain found that 57 per cent of [...]

There are, needless to say, no absolute rules in foreplay, but the following hints might be useful, at least on some occasions and to some couples. 1 Most foreplay begins with kissing and cuddling and progresses to petting and it can be very arousing to undress each other slowly or to strip in front of [...]

The prostate gland, which makes about 10 per cent of the seminal fluid (semen — the ejaculated fluid that contains the sperms), lies at the base of the bladder and surrounds the first part of the urethra. The prostate produces substances which act as a vehicle for the sperms, supply them with nutrients and buffer [...]

Some marriages, of course, endure for the sake of the children, for financial reasons, or because of strongly held religious views. The couple have, to all intents and purposes, secretly divorced or agreed to get a divorce at a later date. Such a couple usually maintain a facade of friendliness but satisfy their needs for [...]