Maggie McKay (Host): Welcome to the Beebe Healthcare Podcast. I'm your host, Maggie McKay. Today, Dr. Chris Caputo, board-certified urologist joins us to discuss aquablation and urologic robotic surgery. Thank you so much for being here.

Christopher Caputo, MD: Thanks for having me, Maggie. Happy to be here.

Host: So, what drew you to urology? And what do you enjoy most about caring for patients in Sussex County?

Christopher Caputo, MD: I enjoy the variety of procedures in urology. There's a couple small procedures that you can do in the office. There's big robotic surgeries that you can do, helping out all different sorts of patients with different problems. And I fell in love with the area of Sussex County when I toured it for the interview. And I'm just like, "Yeah, I can see myself there." It's a nice community, and I like being near the beach. So, it's been great so far.

Host: It sounds like a win-win. For those who may not be familiar, what is aquablation and what conditions does it treat?

Christopher Caputo, MD: So, aquablation is a new method that we have of treating BPH or benign prostatic hyperplasia at Beebe. It is one of the newer technologies that emerged within the last 10, 12 years that has been gaining popularity in the urology community. It is essentially a new way of treating BPH with a high pressure water jet under image guidance in order to maximize the treatment success of those with lower urinary tract symptoms due to BPH and minimize side effects.

Host: Why did Beebe Healthcare decide to bring aquablation technology to Sussex County?

Christopher Caputo, MD: When I first started, I gave a lecture on different treatments of BPH, surgical methods to treat BPH. There are a lot of different ways that it gets done now. The gold standard procedure is the transurethral resection of the prostate or the TURP, which has been around for about a hundred years. And I just gave a lecture and was passionate about bringing some of the newest technology to the area that had great data and great results, and I pushed for it. And I was lucky enough that I was able to get to use this technology.

Host: That's wonderful, especially for the patients who need it. How does aquablation differ from, say, more traditional treatments for enlarged prostates?

Christopher Caputo, MD: The goals for all these prostate procedures are similar. You basically need to create a better channel so that people can urinate. The way in which that's done is different between procedures. The transurethral resection involves resecting some of the prostate tissue with a loop electrocautery or essentially a loop, through a scope. It uses a lot of energy, a lot of heat to resect the prostate tissue, which can damage some of the surrounding tissues and nerves, causing certain side effects. Aquablation doesn't use any sort of heat. It just uses a high pressure water jet akin to something like a power washer, if you want to think of it like that, to ablate or eliminate the inner obstructive prostate tissue. You're accomplishing the same goal just through a method which is gentler to the surrounding tissue and therefore causes less side effects.

Host: What can patients expect from the procedure and recovery process?

Christopher Caputo, MD: So, any prostate procedure is going to have a couple things afterwards. Most people when they're recovering will have to have a catheter in their bladder for a few days in order to let things heal up. Patients may notice that their urine is darker than usual, and that is to be expected after a prostate procedure. Patients may notice that "My urgency to go and my frequency are worse," and that's pretty standard after any prostate procedure as well. Those all get better over time. It just takes a few weeks to get to a new baseline, at which point most people are very happy.

Host: Are there certain patients who benefit most from aquablation?

Christopher Caputo, MD: I would say the patients who benefit the most are those who are already in urinary retention. Those who have been catheter-dependent to empty their bladder for some time, that can undergo a procedure and then essentially get the catheter out.

Host: Dr. Caputo, how does offering this technology locally impact men's health in Sussex County? Because I imagine it's a game changer.

Christopher Caputo, MD: Yeah, I am excited to offer this to the community. I am a big believer in a concept of bladder health, which comes along with treating BPH, essentially. My goal is to get to patients before they get themselves in trouble, needing to catheterize themselves to empty their bladder and whatnot.

You can often kind of track patients over time to see if they're responding to medications or if they've just had procedures in the past that aren't working as well, but they're beginning to have troublesome symptoms again. My goal is to try and catch those people and treat them early to prevent future complications. I think that's important. I think that we can do a better job of treating patients by offering a procedure that minimizes the chance of any kind of sexual side effects that patients would be hesitant to pursue otherwise.

Host: Where do you see this technology and urology care more broadly heading in the future?

Christopher Caputo, MD: I think this technology right now is some of the best that has been developed to treat BPH. It is good for prostate, any size prostate, any shape. You can treat just about any patient with it, and it's becoming more widely adopted by the urology community, gaining more popularity year after year because it is efficient and easy to use.

What the future holds, I don't know. In the next 10 years, there could be something that is unexpected, that's even better. But for right now, I believe that we are offering the best quality of care at Beebe with regards to BPH treatment.

Host: Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Christopher Caputo, MD: if you are having trouble urinating, I'm happy to see you in the office and talk about aquablation or any other problems that you may have.

Host: And I always hear when it comes to prostate issues, don't wait, right?

Christopher Caputo, MD: Yeah. Most guys are stubborn. And like, you know, you have a cut, you rub some dirt on it and go about your day. But this isn't the situation where I would recommend holding off for a long time. If you are beginning to experience some urinary symptoms, they can develop slowly and kind of insidiously over time and get to-- I call it a straw-that-breaks-the-camel's-back moment, where all of a sudden you can't pee. And that is the situation that I desire to avoid for patients if I can.

Host: Well, thank you so much for sharing your expertise and making time to tell us about this. It's very exciting that Beebe has this technology.

Christopher Caputo, MD: Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm happy to talk about it. And if anyone wants to come see me in the office, I am happy to treat them.

Host: That's so great. Thank you so much. Again, that's Dr. Chris Caputo. To see other episodes, please visit bebeehealthcare.org. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out our entire podcast library for topics of interest to you. Thanks for listening to the Beebe Healthcare Podcast.