Archives: 2009 March 30
MEDICATION FOR BPH
From a medical standpoint, most of the drugs used to treat BPH are still very new. There have been no long-term studies of how well they work, and how they compare to surgical treatments for BPH. When a patient with BPH really needs treatment, surgery is still the option most urologists prefer, for several reasons. [...]
WHEN BPH NEEDS TO BE TREATED
Acute Urinary Retention, the Inability to Urinate. Don’t wait on this one; the consequences of not urinating can be grave, and may lead ultimately to kidney failure. Acute urinary retention may be caused by a range of conditions, including acute prostatitis, prostate cancer, an over-distended bladder, and even some medications—most commonly, cold remedies that contract [...]
PROSTATE CANCER/PATHOLOGIC FRACTURE: SHOULD YOU BE IN A STUDY
Clearly, this depends on the study and the medical institution that’s taking part in it. One potential downside to participating in any study of a new drug or procedure is that the treatment you receive may be ineffective, or not as effective as treatment that’s already available—particularly if it’s a double-blind study and you get [...]
THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS TO TREAT A CANCER: CELL BIRTH AND CELL DEATH
There are several ways to treat a cancer. “One,” explains a Johns Hopkins cancer researcher, “is to slow down or prevent the growth. Essentially, the cancer is producing problems because it’s continually growing.” In cancer, cells simply can’t stop dividing—new cells are continually churned out, eventually overrunning other tissue as they fill up their initial [...]
RADICAL PROSTATECTOMY: RECOVERY OF SEXUAL FUNCTION
Recovery of sexual function is related to the age of the patient, and to surgical technique. Ninety percent of men younger than 50 remain potent after surgery; -5 percent of men in their fifties; 60 percent of men in their sixties, and 2s percent of men in their seventies remain potent. There are two tiny [...]
