WHEN BPH NEEDS TO BE TREATED

March 30th, 2009

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 the smooth muscle in the prostate (just as they decongest the nose by constricting the same kind of muscle tissue there). The good news is, this often takes care of itself after a catheter has drained the bladder.

Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections, associated with residual urine. Sometimes, when urine lingers too long in the body—if the bladder is not completely drained for months—it becomes infected. And if the fundamental problem, urinary obstruction, is not solved, it’s difficult to get the infection cleared up.

Bladder Stones, also associated with residual urine. These form when crystals of uric acid or calcium precipitate into the urine. It is possible just to treat the stones—uric acid stones can be dissolved medically, by drugs that make the urine more alkaline; and many techniques are available to crush calcium-containing stones. But these measures do nothing to relieve obstruction. And the fact that a man has developed a bladder stone in the first place usually means he’s got a significant problem with urinary obstruction, which needs to be treated.