Long-term outcomes of prostate artery embolization for acute urinary retention: An analysis of 88 patients
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Updated: Aug 9, 2025

Retzius-Sparing Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy
Published on: May 19, 2022
Antoine Marchi1, Olivier Pellerin2, Charles Querub2
1Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou Vascular and Oncological Interventional Radiology Department, 75015 Paris, France.
Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to assess long-term outcome of prostate artery embolization (PAE) in patients presenting with acute urinary retention related to benign prostatic hyperplasia.
Materials And Methods:
All consecutive patients who underwent PAE for acute urinary retention due to benign prostatic hyperplasia from August 2011 to December 2021 in a single institution were retrospectively included. There were 88 men with a mean age of 72 ± 12 (standard deviation [SD]) years (range: 42-99 years). Patients underwent a first attempt of catheter removal two weeks after PAE. Clinical success was defined as the absence of acute urinary retention recurrence. Correlations between long-term clinical success and patient variables or bilateral PAE were searched for using Spearman correlation test. Catheter-free survival was assessed using Kaplan-Meier analysis.
Results:
Successful catheter removal in the month following PAE was performed in 72 (72/88; 82%) patients and 16 (16/88; 18%) patients had immediate recurrence. Clinical success persisted for 58 (58/88; 66%) patients at long-term follow-up (mean follow-up: 19.5 months ± 16.5 [SD]; range: 2-74 months). Recurrence occurred at a mean of 16.2 months ± 12.2 (SD) (range: 1.5-43 months) post-PAE. Overall, 21 (21/88; 24%) patients of the cohort underwent prostatic surgery, at a mean of 10.4 months ± 12.2 (SD) (range: 1.2-42.4 months) from initial PAE. No correlations between patients variables or bilateral PAE and long-term clinical success were identified. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed a three-year catheter free probability of 60%.
Conclusion:
PAE is a valuable technique for acute urinary retention related to benign prostatic hyperplasia, with a long-term success rate of 66%. However acute urinary retention relapse affects 15% of patients.

