If you urinate frequently during the night and the force and speed of urine flow has decreased and slowed down compared to before, you may have a benign enlargement of your prostate. You may need to see a specialist before these problems make your daily life difficult.

Men may experience problems caused by the enlargement of the prostate, especially when they reach their 60s. Op. Dr. Ali Aydın explains the reason for this as follows: “The prostate develops and grows in two important periods in the development of men. One of these is that the prostate gland doubles in size during early puberty. In addition, around the age of 25, the prostate enters a second growth period. The growth in this second period results in benign prostatic hyperplasia (benign prostatic hyperplasia, briefly BPH) years later.”

Op states that the prostate’s continued growth in this way does not actually cause any problems for most men. Dr. Ali Aydın states that BHP is very rarely encountered in men younger than 40 years of age, but BPH symptoms are seen in more than half of men in their 60s and in 90% of men in their 70s, and it affects people’s daily life and quality of life. Especially with the increase in life expectancy. It is also observed that the incidence of BHP and related complaints is increasing. It is known that BPH accounted for 4.5 urology doctor visits per year in the USA in 2000.

What are the symptoms of BHP?

Op. Dr. Ali Aydın says the following about the symptoms of BPH: “Among the problems that affect the person’s social life, we can count waking up to urinate during the night and the need to urinate frequently during the day.” Especially these two problems cause problems in a person’s social life, such as insomnia, fatigue, and searching for a toilet wherever they want to go. Additionally, the force and speed of urine flow may have decreased and slowed compared to before. There may be a delay or difficulty in starting to urinate, and even after a certain portion of the urine has passed, urine may still come out drop by drop. In addition, the person may feel that the bladder is not completely emptied after urinating.”

Stating that prostate enlargement usually grows as a benign tumor, Aydın underlines that a doctor should be consulted when experiencing problems with urination.

How Is It Diagnosed?

Diagnostic methods used in the benign evaluation of the prostate can be listed as follows:

• Finger prostate examination
• PSA (total and free PSA), creatinine levels in serum
• ultrasonography
• Prostate biopsy (when necessary)
• Urine flow rate measurement -uroflowmetry-
• Cystoscopy (when necessary)
• What are the treatment options?

Emphasizing that the first step in the treatment of BPH should be medical treatment, Op. Dr. Ali Aydın says that if the expected results are not obtained from medical treatment or if the symptoms that have improved despite the treatment reoccur over time, different treatment alternatives should be considered.

Aydın lists the best interventional treatment alternatives in order of effectiveness as follows:

“Transurethral resection (TUR) is performed with bipolar energy, plasmakinetic energy or monopolar energy

Applied with laser vaporization, KTP, Diode, Thulium laser

Laser enucleation is performed with a Holmium laser

Open and laparoscopic prostatectomy (100-120 g)

Young Men Should Also Be Careful!

Apart from benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer, a disease known as chronic prostatitis is also encountered in the prostate gland. Symptoms of this disorder, especially seen in young men, can be listed as frequent urination, a feeling of fullness or dull pain in the testicles or radiating from the root of the penis to the anus, and a tingling or burning sensation when ejaculating. It is possible to control this chronic infection caused by microbes with long-term antibiotic treatment. However, treatment of inflammation not caused by microbes may take longer.