Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), also known as benign prostatic hypertrophy is a histologic diagnosis portrayed by the proliferation of cells in the prostate gland (Chughtai et al., 2016). This proliferation may result from stroma or epithelial cells, impaired apoptosis- impaired cell death or both. The prostate gland is naturally the size of a walnut located near the bladder and the rectum, surrounding the urethra, which plays a vital role in men's reproductive system. Cell hypertrophy results in gross enlargement of the prostate, thus, resulting in various symptoms some of which are common while others occur less commonly (Chughtai et al., 2016). The same symptoms are seen in prostate cancer since there is similar pathophysiology underlying in the presentation of symptoms.
The prostate’s enlargement may block the urethra, causing urinary problems. They include painful urination, increased urinary frequency, increased urinary urgency, nocturia- urge to get up frequently at night to urinate, hesitancy, incomplete bladder emptying, straining to initiate and maintain urination, decreased force of stream during urination and dribbling (Katz, Love & Chung, 2016). These symptoms are because of bladder outlet obstruction due to the increased size. It impinges on the bladder outlet and urethra, therefore, increasing the urge of going to urinate. The increased frequency is due to the impingement on the urethra that only allows a little amount of urine flow when urinating (Chughtai et al., 2016). This also applies to increased straining while urinating, hesitancy and a decreased force of the stream.
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Prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia may be asymptomatic or have some subtle though less common signs. They include sexual dysfunction and pain during ejaculation, hematuria- blood in urine, weight loss as a complication of metastasis in prostate cancer, frequent urinary tract infections, lower back pain due to occurrences of bladder stones due to increased stasis in the bladder (Katz, Love & Chung, 2016). Chronic disease may also damage kidneys leading to renal disease.
References
Chughtai, B., Forde, J. C., Thomas, D. D. M., Laor, L., Hossack, T., Woo, H. H., ... & Kaplan, S. A. (2016). Benign prostatic hyperplasia. Nature Reviews Disease Primers , 2 , 16031.
Katz, D. J., Love, C. J., & Chung, E. (2016). Lower urinary tract symptoms and benign
prostatic hyperplasia: old problems, new solutions .
