Surgery for benign prostatic hyperplasia offers more relief than drug therapy

Washington, May 30 (ANI): Surgery outperforms drug therapy in treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia, a 17-year-long community study in the US has found.

For the study researchers at Mayo Clinic, analysed symptoms of enlarged prostate in over 2,000 men age 40 to 79 years.

The research found urinary incontinence was a common condition, coexisting with BPH/lower urinary tract symptoms.

The team noted that in the community setting, patients with the highest symptom scores were most likely to receive surgical intervention and symptoms stabilized and did not get worse after treatment of all kinds.

Moreover, patients who underwent transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) had the greatest decrease in both symptoms and incontinence compared to other treatment groups.

The findings provide large-sample, long-term data comparing the effectiveness of medical versus surgical treatments in a large, general population, as compared to small, select clinical populations of men.

Amy Krambeck, Mayo Clinic urologist and lead study investigator, said: "Our data fills a gap in the research record that can be used by physicians and patients to evaluate management options.

"Because it's a large community-based study of more than 2,100 men, it includes the entire broad range of male health. This suggests the results are stronger in terms of being generalized and applied to other men."

The findings of the study were presented at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association. (ANI)