Benign Enlargement

Benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) is a disease of the man in old age. About 85% of men over the age of 60 are affected by BPH. The question of the necessity and type of treatment depends on the subjective symptoms of the patient as well as on the objectifiable disorders of urination.

Symptoms

The symptoms of BPH can be subdivided into obstructive symptoms (micturition symptoms) such as weakening of the urinary tract, prolonged urination, delay in taking off, drowning, residual urination and urinary retention as well as irritant symptoms such as frequent urge to urinate, nocturnal urination, constant urge to urinate and urge incontinence. Frequent or nocturnal urination and constant urge to urinate are, according to current investigations, a considerably higher impairment of the quality of life for those affected than the so-called obstructive symptoms such as a decrease in the urinary tract caliber, occasional dripping or delayed start of urinary emptying.

Therapy

In principle, medical and surgical treatments are used.

The drug treatment

In the early stages of BPH therapy with herbal extracts has a long tradition and is established in Germany in particular. Herbal preparations made from sabal fruit extract (saw palms), pumpkin seeds, nettle roots, tremor papules, red coneflower and rye pollen have proven their worth. If no results can be achieved with herbal preparations, chemically produced drugs are used which on the one hand relax the muscle cells in the prostate and on the other hand can cause swelling of the prostate.

The surgical treatment

If these measures do not lead to the hoped-for results, an endoscopic or surgical intervention is usually necessary to eliminate the urinary flow disorder. In addition to open surgery, which is rarely used today, we also use the removal of the prostate gland (transurethral resection / TURP), the new TURiS resection and vaporization as well as the gentler and less bleeding laser procedures. The Westdeutsche Prostatazentrum is one of the few centers in Germany to offer both greenlight laser resection and state-of-the-art diode laser technology. The latter method is also suitable for men with a large prostate.

It is important to detect and distinguish malignant changes in the prostate at an early stage, which can only be detected by regular prevention.