Benign Prostatic Hyperlasia in Mountlake Terrace, Washington (WA)

Benign prostatic hyperplasia, also known as an enlarged prostate, is the most common prostate problem in men over 50 and is very treatable with a variety of therapies. Your doctor will recommend self-care techniques and if more intervention is needed, drug therapies, minimally invasive therapies, or surgery to alleviate your symptoms.

Self-Care for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

If your symptoms are mild, you may find relief in just a few months with a regiment of these self-care techniques:

• Make sure to urinate the moment the urge hits.
• Avoid alcohol and caffeine.
• Minimize the volume of fluids you drink at one time, and avoid drinking two hours before bedtime.
• Cold weather may worsen your symptoms, so exercise regularly and keep warm.
• Take steps to decrease stress, nervousness and tension.
• Your doctor may also recommend Kegel exercises to strengthen your pelvic flood muscles which will lessen your symptoms.

Drug Therapy for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

If self-care is not effective on its own, your doctor may prescribe medications. Medications for BPH can take time to work depending on the drug prescribed. Alpha blockers such as tamsulosin (Flomax) increase urinary flow and decrease the urge to urinate by relaxing bladder neck muscles and prostate muscle fibers. 5-alpha reductase inhibitors such as finasteride (Propecia) and dutasteride (Avodart) reduce the size of the prostate and reduce urine flow rate by decreasing the body’s levels of digydrotestosterone.In addition to more effectively reducing BPH symptoms, a combination of alpha blockers and 5-alpha reductase inhibitors may reduce the risk of future BPH complications.

Minimally Invasive Therapy for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

If your symptoms do not respond to medications, your doctor may recommend minimally invasive surgery.

• Transurethral microwave thermotherapy makes use of heat to warm and destroy extra prostate tissue.
• Transurethral needle ablation (TUNA) uses high frequency radiowaves to heat and destroy prostate tissue directly through needles inserted into the prostate.
• Homium laser enulcleastion of prostate (HoLEP) is a procedure which uses a resectoscope which contains light, valves that control an irrigating fluid, and an electrical loop which cuts tissue and seals blood vessels.

Surgical Treatment Options

Surgery is the most invasive therapy for BPH and is used to treat severe symptoms and when other treatments fail.

• Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), the most common BPH surgery, uses a resectoscope to remove prostate tissue, and flush the tissue into the urine and out of the body with irrigating fluid.
• Transurethral incision of the prostate (TUIP) is a procedure where, instead of prostate tissue being removed, muscles in the prostate area are cut to relax the bladder opening. A relaxed bladder enables urine to flow more freely. This procedure is performed on men with a smaller prostate.
• A simple prostatectomy is an open surgical procedure in which an incision is made through the abdomen or scrotum and the inner portion of the prostate gland is removed, leaving the outer segment intact.

Talk to you doctor to find out what treatment option is right for you.