BPH (Benign prostat hiperplazisi)
BPH is a very common disease in aging men. After the age of 60, more than 70% of men develop symptoms related to urination. Due to the symptoms that occur with urination, problems begin to occur in the daily flow of life, restrictions in the continuity of the person’s work due to frequent urination, insomnia due to frequent urination at night, insomnia and related weakness and fatigue during the day, and deterioration in the quality of life due to symptoms such as urinary incontinence in advanced cases.
The prostate begins to enlarge in the mid-30s, its presence can be detected incidentally in the mid-4os by tests such as ultrasonography, symptoms related to urination begin to appear in the 50s and require treatment in the 60s.
What are the findings related to prostate disease; frequent urination, frequent urination at night (at least 2-3 times), decreased urination pressure and urine falling near the feet, burning in urine, intermittent urination, prolonged drips after urination, and in advanced cases, urinary incontinence and bleeding in urine can be seen. Even the presence of a few of these findings will suggest the diagnosis of BPH to the physician and examination and further examination will be inevitable.
Rectal examination with a finger, ultrasonography of the prostate, blood tests such as PSA and kidney function tests are the procedures that should be performed. As a result of these procedures, the patient is diagnosed and treatment is initiated. Treatment is planned and carried out as intermittent monitoring, medication (medical treatment) or surgery.
If the patient’s symptoms are mild and ultrasonography shows no bladder changes (bladder wall thickness and internal wall irregularities), the patient can be monitored at regular intervals. Drug treatment can be applied in patients with moderate symptoms and at a level that does not require surgery. As long as the patient is comfortable and the symptoms do not increase despite the medication, he/she can be comfortable using the medication(s) deemed appropriate by the physician for life. In addition to medications that allow patients to urinate comfortably, there are also medications that can stop the growth of the prostate and even shrink it a little with long-term use. The patient urinates less frequently, urinates less at night, and as the intervals between urination will be longer and other symptoms will also improve, some improvement in quality of life will be achieved.
As for surgical treatments, open surgery is the oldest method and is rarely needed today. Closed prostate surgery (TUR) is performed under anesthesia by entering the penis with special tools and scraping from the inside and is the most common method and is a successful application when performed by experienced physicians. surgeries using laser are effective and successful methods with shorter recovery times. Patient and physician communication will be effective in determining the surgical method, taking into account the physician’s experience.
