Prostate is an organ that is located under the urinary bladder and the urinary channel passes through it. Its absence isn’t vital. But it nevertheless is a vital organ in terms of reproduction and sexual functions. It causes complaints due to two reasons. Enlargements associated and unassociated with cancer.

What is the Prostate Enlargement?

        Prostate enlargement occurs when the prostate cells in the body expand due to hormone unbalance associated with age. This enlargement squeezes the urinary channel that passes through the prostate and cause urination complaints.

Symptoms of Prostate Enlargement

       Today, it is understood that urination complaints may not only owe to simple prostate enlargement but also to the ageing bladder. It is easy to diagnose simple prostate enlargement. The urinary channel can become less or more obstructed due to the enlargement degree of the prostate. As the patient ages, this causes complaints that disrupt the daily quality of life such as thin and frequent urination, dripping at the conclusion of urination, urinating during night and fullness sensation in the bladder due to incomplete discharge of urine. The interior of the prostate (the adenoma) grows (static) and the flat muscle flexes (dynamic) and therefore squeeze the channel. One shouldn’t forget that each simple enlargement doesn’t necessarily squeeze the channel. It may not cause so many complaints.

        But such complaints may not solely owe to prostate enlargement. This may also owe to diabetes, kidney and heart disorders and strictures in the urinary channel. It requires differential diagnosis.

Diagnosis of Prostate Enlargement

        Prostate Enlargement is diagnosed by the blood test we call PSA and finger examination. We later use measure the urine flow with a procedure called uroflowmetry and the urine remaining in the bladder with ultrasonography. Decision for surgery isn’t taken immediately. These complaints may be treated by the miraculous drugs developed.

Treatment of Prostate Enlargement

When Does One Need Prostate Enlargement Surgery?

        Decision for surgery is taken according to the seriousness of the complaints it causes rather than the bigness or smallness thereof. The urinary channel may be obstructed even in small enlargements of the prostate. This requires surgery. On the contrary, surgery may not be needed even in major enlargements if no serious obstruction exists.

Drug Treatment for Prostate Enlargement

        In the past, physicians thought that all urination complaints were associated with prostate and patients were immediately taken to surgery. Today, it’s been evidenced that such complaints not only owe to prostate enlargement, but also to the ageing of the flat muscle in the bladder. And from then on, the disease has been called as Lower Urinary Tract Symptom (LUTS). Better understanding of the urine storage and discharge system and the discovery of miraculous drugs have considerably lessened the number of operations unnecessarily performed in the past. Such drugs provide a quality living without the need for surgery [alpha blockers, muscarinic receptor agonists, phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors and PDE5 inhibitors, 5 Alpha-reductase inhibitors (5ARI)]. These drugs allow the patient to have a normal urination function. PDE5 inhibitors manifest a double impact by correcting both urination and erection problems in patients and therefore enhancing their quality of life.

Simple Prostate Enlargement Surgery

      Surgeries performed for simple enlargements in the prostate are entirely different from those performed for prostate cancer. In simple enlargements, the entirety of the prostate isn’t removed and its shell is preserved. The section called adenoma, which enlarges within the prostate shell, is removed by open or closed (TURP, meaning “Trans Urethral Resection of Prostate”) procedure. As the shell is elastic, it shrinks after the adenoma therein is removed and takes a channel shape. Therefore, integrity of the patient’s urinary channel isn’t disrupted.

      Although closed surgery (laser or trans urethral resection) is the golden standard for prostate enlargements, this operation doesn’t remove the entirety of the enlarged tissue. The PSA measurements performed before and after surgery have shown that with closed methods, almost half of the tissue remains. During open procedure however, all prostate excluding its shell can be removed in its entirety. Although there is more hemorrhage during open surgery, the open procedure is still the valid method for major enlargements of the prostate.

Does Prostate Enlargement Turn into Prostate Cancer?