Read up on Prostate, enlarged treatment options at Consumer Reports Health.

Prostate, enlarged

Key points about treatments

As you get older, your prostate can get bigger and lead to symptoms that bother you. Doctors call this condition benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH.

If you're coping well with your BPH symptoms, your doctor may suggest doing nothing. This is called watchful waiting or active monitoring.

For men who want to do something about their symptoms, there are several treatments available, including drugs, herbal treatments and surgery. But what works best? Here we present the treatment options.

Key points about treating an enlarged prostate

BPH is normally a harmless condition, and you don't need to decide about treatment right away.
There are three main types of treatment for BPH: watchful waiting (monitoring your symptoms to see if you need treatment later), drugs and surgery.
Alpha-blockers are the fastest-acting medications for BPH. For some people, these drugs start working within days or weeks. But they can cause dry climax (this is when you release little or no fluid from your penis when you have an orgasm).
Finasteride is the only drug treatment that reduces your risk of getting acute urinary retention (this is when you suddenly can't urinate and need emergency treatment). But this drug can cause problems with your sex life. Finasteride works best in men with more enlarged prostates.
An operation called a transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) is good at getting rid of symptoms. But you may have dry climax after the operation.
Newer types of surgery might be safer than TURP. They cause less bleeding, although you might be more likely to get

urinary tract infection
A urinary tract infection (UTI) happens when bacteria invade the walls of your urinary tract, which includes your kidneys, bladder and urethra. An uncomplicated UTI is one that involves your bladder and urethra, but not your kidneys. A complicated UTI involves your kidneys and can be harder to treat. Another name for kidney infection is pyelonephritis.

urinary tract infections and urinary retention. We don't know yet whether the effects of newer types of surgery last as long as the effects of TURP because the research hasn't been done.
Herbal treatments seem to help lots of men, with few or no side effects. But we don't know how long these benefits last.

This information was last updated on Oct 13, 2008

This information is for educational use only, and is not a substitute for prompt professional medical advice. Readers should always consult a physician or other professional for advice and treatment.
© BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2009. All rights reserved.

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