What is BPH (Benign prostatic hypertrophy)
BPH or Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy (or hyperplasia) is the growth of prostate gland with increasing age in men that causes some complaints. BPH is a very common disease. There are complaints of prostate enlargement in about 1/4 of men at the age of about 50, and about half of men around 80 years of age.
What are BPH complaints?
The most common symptoms of prostate enlargement are:
-
Frequent urination (especially at night)
-
Sudden need of urinating (urgency)
-
Difficulty in starting to urinate
-
Urinary pain or burning
-
Feeling that the bladder is not fully emptied
-
Urine dropping or incontinence
-
Poor urine flow during urination
How is the diagnosis made?
The diagnosis of BPH can easily be made by some examinations and tests performed in patients with the above complaints. The most common of these are PSA blood test, ultrasound and urine flow. With these methods, the diagnosis of BPH is confirmed, the degree of BPH is determined and a treatment plan can be made. If the PSA is too high or there is a high suspicion of prostate cancer, a multiparametric prostate MRI and an image-guided fusion biopsy may be needed.
Even if there is a small prostate cancer in a BPH patient, we can treat both conditions non surgically with cryoablation in a single session.
Interventional oncology in cancer management
Prof Saim Yilmaz, MD