Benign prostatic hypertrophy, or BPH, is the medical name for an enlarged prostate gland. Many men have this condition, and the number of patients with this disease increases as men age. In fact, estimates indicate that half of all men who are 60 or older have the condition. While BPH is not dangerous, it can cause uncomfortable symptoms, and when these symptoms begin to interfere with quality of life, many men turn to Advanced Urology of Central Florida for treatment.

Common Symptoms of BPH

The most common symptoms of BPH are urinary symptoms. Frequent urges to urinate are common for men with this condition. Sometimes they feel as though they need to urinate, yet they are unable to do so. An inability to control urine flow is another symptom. The pressure on the urethra and bladder neck caused by the enlarged gland cause these common symptoms.

Treatments for BPH

If you have BPH, we will work to shrink the prostate gland in order to reduce the pressure on the urinary tract and eliminate your uncomfortable symptoms. The first treatment we will probably try is drug therapy. Depending on the cause of your enlarged prostate, medications can often be affective in reducing the size of the gland, thus eliminating your symptoms. If medication is not successful at relieving your symptoms, we will move to more aggressive therapy options.

Another option we can use to treat your condition is to shrink the prostate gland externally using lasers or microwaves. These will enter the body and destroy portions of the gland. HIFU can also be used in this manner. HIFU is more precise than the other therapy options, thus causing fewer side effects. While we rarely turn to surgery to treat BPH, severe cases can be treated by removing a portion of the prostate gland surgically.

If you have some symptoms of BPH but can still enjoy a normal quality of life, we may choose not to treat your condition. Watchful waiting involves keeping an eye on you and seeing whether or not your condition gets worse. We can always choose to do treatment later if your condition worsens.