subject: Prostate disorder and medication [print this page] Prostate disorder and medication Prostate disorder and medication
Prostate
Prostate is a gland that secretes an alkaline fluid into the pancreatic duct. This fluid constitutes up to 30% of the semen and it neutralizes the acidic vaginal tract and sustains the sperm life for longer. The fluid secreted by prostate includes proteolytic enzymes, prostatic acid phosphatase, and prostate-specific antigen.
Problems associated with Prostate
Two most common problems associated with prostate gland are prostatitis, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and malignant prostatic hyperplasia (MPH). Prostatitis is characterized by often urination, burning sensation while urinating, fever or tedium. It may happen due to inflammation caused by bacterial infection. In case there is no bacterial infection found, there is a possibility of nonbacterial prostatitis.
In BPH the prostate gland enlarges and squeezes the urethra. As the urine from the urinary bladder travels though urethra, this might cause high pressure on urinary bladder. Symptoms of BPH are frequent urination, sudden high bladder pressure and urgent need to urinate. It might wake you many when you are asleep, you will feel high pressure to urinate however you have to wait to start urinating. The urine stream gets weak, quantity of urine decreases, feeling the pressure even after urinating, dribbling urine or blood in urine.
Prostatitis is not a very serious illness and can be treated with medication like alpha-blocker that relaxes the prostate muscles. Prostatitis mostly occurs in men younger than 50 years however BPH or MPH occurs in men older than 50 years. BPH may cause urinary tract infection, difficulty in urinating or constant urination can also damage the kidney
MPH is cancerous in nature and happens due to uncontrolled growth of cells in prostate gland. Since the early symptoms of BPH and MPH are same, you should always consult a doctor to examine and identify the disease. Correct diagnosis with correct treatment will help in early detection and treatment of the disease.
Treatment
There are medicines available to treat the disease. Other treatment includes surgical and non surgical methods. Available medicines shrink or contract the prostate and prevent it from blocking the urinary tract. Non surgical procedures or sometimes termed as transurethral procedures includes reaching the prostate with the help of small tubes and then heating the affected region. Few of the transurethral procedures are photo-selective vaporization of the prostate (PVP), transurethral incision of the prostate (TUIP), transurethral microwave therapy (TUMT) and transurethral needle ablation (TUNA).
Surgical treatment includes removing a piece of prostate either through urethra or in open surgery. In case the prostate Is very large the open surgery is performed by making an incision above the penis. If the size of prostate is not very large a surgery called transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) is performed. Both the surgeries require general anesthesia.
In extreme case when the patient is diagnosed with MPH, the doctor may advise to remove the prostate to stop the cancer from spreading.
Side effects of treatment
Surgical or nonsurgical procedures may affect the sexual function, reverse ejaculation, loss of bladder control and dribbling or urine leakage. Most of the post treatment prostate symptoms can be treated and can be fully reversed in less than a year
