CONFRONTED by a hospital smoking ban, Oldham pensioner James Parkinson, who refused a prostate operation because he could not face four days without a cigarette, hit the nation's headlines.
There is an alternative treatment which only takes one hour and would only require a couple of hours in hospital as an outpatient. Several hospitals around the country now operate an outpatient treatment using a Direx machine which uses radio frequency to destroy prostate tissue.
Readers who want information about any prostate condition can send for an initial information sheet and details of our Newsletters and Support Network. They should include two first class stamps.
PHILIP DUNN, Secretary, Prostate Help Association, Langworth, Lincoln
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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