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Also on the Web Rhode Island Hospital

This past summer, Bill Doyle was looking forward to a visit to his home country of Ireland.  But Bill had been battling with a problem called benign prostatic hypertrophy, or BPH, which is the enlargement of the prostate gland. The problem can cause the frequent need to urinate as well as not being able to urinate at all. But the most common treatment was a surgical procedure known as TURP and it carried significant risks, like possible impotence and excessive bleeding.

"I was very apprehensive about a major prostatectomy which would've been six weeks out of work. It just wasn't in the bags for me," Bill says.

But Bill was in luck.  His urologist, Dr. Barry Stein is a urologist at Rhode Island Hospital.  Dr. Stein happened to be using a new, less invasive, procedure known as laser prostatectomy.

"For the average man, he can have this procedure done, wake up in the recovery room, have his catheter removed and go home," says Dr. Stein.

The procedure is much faster and less risky. It also cuts recovery time in half. Less risk and less recovery time was the selling point Bill was looking for. "I'm enjoying a much better quality of life because of this and to me it was a very simple operation."