Prostate 1

The Little Surgery

Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy

This information leaflet was written by London GP, Dr Sarah Jarvis,
and first appeared in the 26th September 1996 issue of DOCTOR magazine.
It is not intended as a substitute for proper medical advice, and if you have a medical problem you should consult your own doctor.

	What is benign prostatic hypertrophy? What causes it? Who gets it? What are the symptoms? When should I go to my GP?	What tests will my GP want to do? What is the short term treeatment? How can I stop it getting worse? Will I need regular check ups? Will I need to be referred to hospital?

What is benign prostatic hypertrophy?

The prostate is an internal gland in men between the bottom of the bladder and the top of the penis. The urethra, the tube your urine passes down from the bladder when you pass water, runs through the middle of it.

Benign prostatic hypertrophy is swelling of this gland. It is not cancerous.

Because the prostate surrounds the urethra, when it swells it can block the flow of water.

What causes it?

There is no special cause for this condition. It just sometimes happens as you get older.

Who gets it?

Since only men have prostate glands, only men can get this condition.
The single big risk factor is age - the older you are, the more likely you are to suffer from it. It is unlikely to start before 45.

What are the symptoms?

You will notice first that your stream of urine is not as strong as it used to be - that is, you could not 'pee over a five-bar gate' if you wanted to.

You may need to pass water more often, and could find yourself getting up several times in the night to pass water.

You may find that when you want to pass water, you feel you have to rush to get to the toilet in case you cannot wait. Once you get there, however, you may have to wait some time for the stream to come.

You may have dribbling at the end of the stream.

It can sometimes cause urine infections, which can cause intense burning and stinging on passing water.

When should I go to my GP?

You will often find that these symptoms come on gradually. Once they are getting troublesome, make a routine appointment with your GP to discuss them.

It is not something you should ignore completely, though, because if it is left for too long it can sometimes affect the kidneys.

What tests will my GP do?

Your GP will probably feel your stomach and may want to put a finger into your back passage to feel the prostate through the wall of the back passage canal.
He or she may also do a blood test.

What is the short term treatment?

If the symptoms are bad enough you may need medication or an operation.

Very occasionally, the prostate blocks the stream of urine completely, causing a very painful build-up of urine in the bladder - this is called acute retention of urine.

The short term treatment for acute retention of urine is to pass a catheter down the penis into the bladder, using local anaesthetic jelly, to relieve the blockage.

Will I need long term treatment?

You may need to have an operation to cut away the extra prostate tissue and clear the passage from the bladder.
Some people who are not fit for surgery or who do not want an operation are sometimes treated with tablets, although these may have to be taken for a long time to yield any benefit.

How can I stop it getting worse?

Try not to hold your water for long periods, as this can cause complete blockage of the water stream.

Will I need regular checkups?

No.

But you need to see your GP again if your symptoms get bad enough to be a real nuisance, or if you get complications like a water infection

Will I need to go to hospital?

Sooner or later you are likely to need some sort of operation.
How quickly your GP refers you for this will depend on how bad your symptoms are and what he or she finds when they examine you.

For more information, you can read Have you got prostate symptoms?

Here is another site with information about benign prostatic hypertrophy. This is an American site published by

The National Institute of Health

Here is a lot of detailed medical information, and some good information on prostate operations.
All this information is on one big page, so it may some time to download.

Any comments, compliments or complaints to the web-weaver
Dr Ruth Livingstone at ruth.livingstone@ukonline.co.uk

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