Does anyone like wearing a Foley catheter bag due to prostate or bladder problems? If you’re like most men the answer is a decisive “No!”
Now there’s now a new option. It’s called a”Spanner.” Not only can you avoid voiding through a catheter + bag. You can enjoy greater sexual intimacy before resolving what treatment you need.
The newly FDA-aproved Spanner has significant religious implications for observant Moslems, as described in the article below. But everyone can benefit from the Spanner’s capacity to diagnose whether it’s your bladder or prostate that’s causing you problems.
For more details see the attached post I received a couple of months ago from a public relations specialist and fellow author, and take a look at the website I’ve mentioned.
Spanner Could Transform Practice of Urology
Parkers Prairie, Minnesota, October 24, 2011 – It’s called the Spanner, and it could revolutionize the treatment given to men suffering from prostate, bladder problems, or both. The only temporary prostatic stent approved by the FDA, this new product is already improving quality of life and treatment outcomes for many.
The features of this device are also bringing an extra level of comfort to Muslim men experiencing prostate problems. Until recently, a patient with these conditions was fitted with a Foley catheter, which directs urine into a bag attached to the patient’s thigh. Not only has the catheter been found to be less than satisfactory in a number of ways, for men who practice Islam, the catheter and its external attachment are considered unclean, keeping them from entering a mosque to say their daily prayers, which are obligatory.
Dr. Danny Rabah, director of urology at King Saud University Medical School in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, sees this problem in many of his patients. Rabah, trained at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York, recently conducted a preliminary study where patients had the Spanner placed and removed in his office. Results indicated it was not only safe and effective, the device was the preferred treatment for patients in the study, who reported their lives significantly improved as a result: With catheter and leg bag gone, the stent helped restore normalcy to their daily activities, including resumption of a normal level of sexual intimacy.
Rabah, who is already instructing his medical residents in application of the Spanner, will soon conduct a larger, 18-month analysis, suggesting that this more extensive research could have a major and positive worldwide impact. “It will be a three-part study, ranging from quality of life improvement issues to those who will benefit from surgery and those who will not,” Rabah said.
In the United States, Dr. Mitchell Humphreys, an urologist with the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, has also found the Spanner works well and is preferred by patients who previously had been tethered to a catheter and leg bag. He also sees its potential of becoming an effective diagnostic tool.
Humphreys says the device can be valuable in helping physicians decide whether it’s the patient’s bladder or prostate causing the problem, because in 20% of cases, it’s the former. He added that “The Spanner offers the perfect option to patients considering surgery, demonstrating how much better patients can void by being de-obstructed before deciding whether or not to have surgery, without the possibility of disease risk from the surgery.”
Manufactured by AbbeyMoor Medical, Incorporated, the Spanner has also been approved for reimbursement by Medicare.
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