BPH and Symptom Development

Dr. Dean Elterman, MD, MSc, FRCSC, Urological Surgeon

Duration : 2 minutes and 20 seconds

Having an enlarged prostate, or just having a big prostate in and of itself isn't a problem. It's the urinary symptoms that develop as a result of having an enlarged prostate that can become bothersome. What's really interesting is that we actually find men who have fairly enlarged prostates that are not bothered by urinary symptoms and they can live quite happily without any forms of treatment. Conversely, some men will have maybe a mildly large prostate, and they can have a lot of symptoms. There isn't necessarily always a relationship or correlation between prostate size and symptoms. However, it’s safe to say that as prostate gets larger and blocks that flow of urine, you're likely going to develop symptoms of an enlarged prostate.

The symptoms related to BPH are what we call lower urinary tract symptoms. These are things like a weakening of the urinary stream, where it's slower and comes out weaker. There could be something called intermittency, which means the urinary stream stops and starts, and it's not one continuous stream. There can be something called hesitancy, meaning you stand a long time before the stream starts. And there can be a feeling like you don't empty your bladder completely, like there's some urine leftover. And some people will have some dribbling at the end of urination called post void dribbling.

All of these symptoms are different than the overactive bladder. Overactive bladder symptoms are more like frequent urination, urgency, or rushing to the bathroom and nighttime peeing. BPH symptoms is essentially where it's difficult to get the urine out, and the overactive bladder is when its difficult to keep the urine in.

Presenter: Dr. Dean Elterman, Urologist, Toronto, ON

Local Practitioners: Urologist