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If you have symptoms such as needing to urinate more often during the day and night, and find it difficult to put off urinating, you should see your doctor. Your doctor will probably want to run some tests to check your prostate.

There's no one test that tells your doctor that you have an enlarged prostate. Symptoms of BPH can look like symptoms of other conditions. For example, needing to urinate often is a sign of diabetes. Your doctor may carry out some tests to find out for sure what's causing your symptoms.¹ To read more, see Tests to check your prostate health.

You may be worried that an enlarged prostate means you have prostate cancer. The symptoms for both conditions are similar, but BPH is not cancer. And having BPH doesn't increase your chances of getting prostate cancer.²

If you have symptoms of an enlarged prostate, your doctor will probably run tests to make sure that you don't have prostate cancer. The two most common tests are a digital rectal examination and a blood test for a substance called prostate-specific antigen (PSA). For more information, see Tests to check your prostate health.

Unfortunately, these tests can't tell you for sure whether you have prostate cancer. They can only tell you the chance that you have it or don't have it. If your doctor thinks there's a high chance that you have prostate cancer, you may need to have a biopsy. This is when your doctor removes a small piece of tissue from your prostate. This tissue is then examined under a microscope to check for cancer cells.

To read more, see our section on Prostate cancer.

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 2008. All rights reserved.