"Clearing Up Confusion About the Prostate"
Senior Focus - January 1997
Each year in the U.S., benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), or enlargement of the prostate, is diagnosed four times as often as prostate cancer. Although BPH is rarely life-threatening, its symptoms impact quality of life.
As men age, their chances of developing problems with the prostate, a small gland that surrounds the neck of the bladder, increase significantly. Experts at Baylor College of Medicine’s Scott Department of Urology say signs of BPH occur in half of all men by age 60 and in 80 percent by age 80.
Men who cannot sleep through the night without several trips to the bathroom, or experience the frequent urge to urinate, or have a decreased urine flow have the telltale symptoms of an enlarged prostate. The cause is unknown, but the good news is that enlargement of the prostate seldom indicates cancer and usually responds to treatment.
In fact, it is because early prostate cancer usually does not cause symptoms that an annual prostate cancer screening, including a prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test and rectal exam, is recommended for men 50 and older. African-Americans and men who have a family history of prostate cancer are encouraged to start yearly screenings at age 40.
In treatment of BPH, both medication and surgery have been used successfully. TransUrethral Needle Ablation (TUNA) is a recent advance performed on an outpatient basis. This treatment uses low-frequency radio waves to destroy nerve fibers within the prostate. The patient receives local anesthesia and a mild sedative, and the procedure usually can be performed in a doctor’s office in fewer than 30 minutes.
The important points to remember are that most of the time when men in their 50s and 60s have symptoms, they have BPH rather than cancer. And the annual prostate cancer screening provides a means of diagnosing prostate cancer, if it does exist, in its earliest and most curable stage.
Note: Many medical schools and hospitals offer free prostate screenings.
