Patient education
Evidence-informed PAE resources organized around diagnosis, candidacy, treatment choices, recovery, and questions for a consultation.
Editorially updated July 20, 2026. This resource center provides general education and cannot determine whether prostate artery embolization is appropriate for an individual patient.
Prostate artery embolization (PAE) is an image-guided treatment that may improve lower urinary tract symptoms caused by benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in appropriately selected patients. A useful decision requires more than learning how the catheter procedure works. Patients need to understand the diagnosis, candidacy, alternatives, evidence, risks, recovery, and possibility of additional treatment.
This PAE patient resource center organizes SoCal Interventional’s educational material around those decisions.
Weak stream, urgency, nighttime urination, difficulty starting, and incomplete emptying can be caused by BPH, but they can also reflect bladder dysfunction, infection, medication effects, urethral narrowing, neurologic disease, stones, or malignancy.
Inability to urinate, significant blood or clots, fever or chills with urinary symptoms, severe pain, or acute illness should receive prompt medical attention rather than online scheduling.
An interventional radiologist advances a catheter through a small arterial access site to selected prostate arteries and delivers microscopic particles. Reduced blood flow can cause targeted tissue to shrink gradually. PAE does not remove tissue through the urethra and does not treat every cause of urinary symptoms.
Candidacy depends on evidence that BPH is causing bothersome symptoms, prostate and arterial anatomy, bladder function, kidney function, vascular disease, contrast allergy, medicines, infection risk, prior care, and patient goals. Prostate size alone is not enough.
PAE can provide meaningful symptom improvement with a small arterial access site. Some tissue-removing procedures may offer stronger or faster improvement in urinary flow. Medication may be appropriate before or instead of a procedure. Sexual side effects, anesthesia, catheter use, bleeding, recovery, and retreatment vary among options.
Recovery instructions depend on the arterial access site, sedation, medicines, urinary condition, and how the procedure proceeds. Temporary pelvic discomfort, urinary irritation, fatigue, constipation, or a symptom flare may occur. Improvement is generally evaluated over weeks to months and varies by patient.
A randomized sham-controlled trial supported symptom benefit from PAE in selected patients. A five-year randomized comparison of PAE and TURP found improvement after both treatments, with greater improvement in several patient-reported and objective urinary outcomes after TURP.
The multisociety PAE position statement summarized by SIR supports PAE as an option for appropriately selected patients. The AUA BPH guideline places PAE within shared decision-making by qualified clinicians.
Potential risks include access-site bruising or bleeding, temporary pelvic or urinary symptoms, blood in urine or semen, acute retention, infection, contrast reaction, kidney injury, radiation exposure, and rare non-target embolization with injury to nearby tissue. Erectile and ejaculatory function are often preserved, but no sexual outcome is guaranteed.
PAE can be technically incomplete, symptoms may improve only partly or not at all, and later medication, repeat embolization, or surgery may be needed. A consultation should compare these limitations with the risks and expected benefits of other appropriate options.
Read the SoCal Interventional medical editorial policy for information about source selection, review labels, testimonials, corrections, and treatment-claim standards.
To request an individualized PAE evaluation in Van Nuys or Irvine, call (310) 929-0026. If you are unable to urinate or have another urgent symptom, seek prompt medical care.
