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For an appointment, call:
(920) 320-6344 |
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Lakeshore Urology
1818 Memorial Drive
Manitowoc, WI 54220
Click for Map
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Office hours
Monday - Friday 8 am - 5 pm
Same day and noon-hour appointments are often available.
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Other links:
Insurance and Fees
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John Stern, M.D.
Question: My husband was told last year by his doctor that he has an enlarged prostate. It didn't bother him much then, but now he has problems urinating. What is available to help him?
Answer: Benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH), or prostate enlargement, affects some men over the age of 50, and up to one-half of men over 65. Symptoms can include frequent or night-time urination, urgency, dribbling, slow or stop-start flow, and feelings of not emptying. The symptoms usually progress slowly, but can sometimes cause inability to urinate (urinary retention).
Testing is sometimes needed to rule out other conditions like stones, prostate infection or cancer, which can occasionally cause these symptoms. Most cases, though, are due to benign enlargement.
Often no treatment other than regular follow up (watchful waiting) is needed if symptoms are very mild. More bothersome symptoms improve in about two-thirds of men with medications to relax prostate muscles (alpha-blockers), shrink the prostate (finasteride) or relax the bladder overactivity that BPH can cause.
Medications aren’t for everyone, though. About one-third of men don’t respond, have side effects or can’t afford the pills. These men have several other options for relief.
Transurethral Resection of the Prostate (TURP), the first incision-less scope surgery, removes the blocking tissue in small pieces which are washed out through the scope. It gives the quickest and most complete relief, highest patient satisfaction rate, lowest recurrence rate and allows a tissue biopsy to be done to rule out cancer. Laser surgery results approach TURP, with less bleeding or activity restriction.
Heat treatments include transurethral needle ablation (TUNA) and transurethral microwave therapy (TUMT). Unlike laser and TURP, they can be done in the office with only local anesthesia and sedation. These two procedures can be done safely on men using blood thinners or who are in poor health. Results are about 80 percent as good as TURP.
There truly are many different treatment options today for BPH.