What You need to know about Prostate Problems
Prostate Treatment Options
How is BPH treated?
Several treatments are available. Work with your doctor to find the one that’s best for you.
Watchful waiting. If your symptoms don’t bother you too much, you may choose to live with them rather than take pills every day or have surgery. But you should have regular checkups to make sure your condition isn’t getting worse. With watchful waiting, you can be ready to choose a treatment as soon as you need it.
Medicines. In recent years, scientists have developed several medicines to shrink or relax the prostate to keep it from blocking the bladder opening.
Nonsurgical procedures. A number of devices have been developed that allow doctors to remove parts of the prostate during nonsurgical procedures. These procedures can usually be done in a clinic or hospital without an overnight stay. The procedures are transurethral, which means the doctor reaches the area by going through the urethra. The doctor uses thin tubes inserted through the urethra to deliver controlled heat to small areas of the prostate.
A gel may be applied to the urethra to prevent pain or discomfort. You won’t need drugs that make you go to sleep. Several transurethral procedures are treatments for BPH:
- PVP (photoselective vaporization of the prostate): destroys excess prostate tissue interfering with the exit of urine from the body by using a controlled laser beam inside the prostate.
- TUIP (transurethral incision of the prostate): widens the urethra by making a few small cuts in the bladder neck, where the urethra joins the bladder, and in the prostate gland itself.
- TUMT (transurethral microwave thermotherapy): destroys prostate tissue by using a probe in the urethra to deliver microwaves.
- TUNA (transurethral needle ablation): destroys excess prostate tissue with electromagnetically generated heat by using a needle-like device in the urethra.
Surgical treatment. Surgery to remove a piece of the prostate can be done through the urethra or in open surgery, which requires cutting through the skin above the base of the penis. Your doctor may recommend open surgery if your prostate is especially large. The most common surgery is called transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). In TURP, the surgeon inserts a thin tube up the urethra and cuts away pieces of the prostate with a wire loop while looking through a cystoscope. TURP and open surgery both require general anesthesia and a stay in the hospital.
Is TURP the same as removing the prostate?
No. TURP and other procedures for BPH remove only enough tissue to relieve urine blockage. In a few cases, the prostate may continue to grow, and urinary problems return. You should continue to have your prostate checked once a year even after surgery to make sure that BPH or prostate cancer has not developed.
A prostate removal, or radical prostatectomy, is usually done only to stop prostate cancer from spreading.
Content Created/Medically Reviewed by our Expert Doctors
