PROSTRATE GLAND DISEASES
- At the opening of the urinary bladder in men, located near the urethra, there is a gland called prostrate, important for fertility.
- Common disorders associated with the prostate gland include prostatitis or inflammation of the prostate gland, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer.
1. Prostatitis
- This is inflammation of the prostate gland in men of 30-50 ages.
- It is often caused by bladder infections, STD, frequent unprotected sex, alcohol, spicy foods, and injury to the lower pelvis.
- Its symptoms include fever, chills, lower backache, fatigue, frequent or painful urination, painful ejaculation, occasional discomfort in the testicles, and bloody ejaculation.
- In the initial stages, it can be controlled by drugs.
- Catheterisation – emergency draining of urine through a tube – is also a common treatment.
- If ignored, it can become a debilitating chronic disorder and may not respond to treatment.
- An annual screening of the prostate gland is a preventive health measure, especially for men above the age of 40 years.
2. Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)
- With advancing age (usually 50 and above) in men, due to hormonal changes, this gland enlarges and causes compression of the urinary passage, i.e. Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH).
- Patients of BPH suffer from mild symptoms like increase in urinary frequency, urgency, nocturia, poor and thin intermittent stream, hesitancy, and straining, dribbling and incomplete urination.
- Severe symptoms could be residual urine on sonography, recurrent infections and bleeding through urine.
- BPH is a progressive disease, causing bacterial infection in the bladder and urinary tract infection, while residual urine can cause urinary bladder stones.
- Chronic urinary retention may also lead to renal failure.
- Since BPH is a chronic disorder, its mild symptoms should be treated with medications for a long duration.
- Severe problems need surgery which includes removal of the enlarged part of the gland from inside the urethra.
- All operations for BPH are done through urinary passage without any incision or making any hole in the body.
- If endoscopic operation is decided, routine method or holmium laser treatment or thulium laser treatment are the other options.
- Thulium laser technology is the latest weapon against prostate.
- With this technology, the prostate operation can be done with minimal blood loss, and patients can be discharged in one day.
- As the blood vessel gets sealed automatically during the operation, it is safer as it reduces the blood loss significantly.
- This gives a great advantage for patients having heart problems, patients taking drugs like aspirin and clopidogrel, and patients with bleeding problems, etc.
- The prostrate is removed in pieces in the routine method (TURP), while it is removed by a morscillator as lobes by thulium laser.
- The risk of erectile dysfunction or stricture formation is also drastically reduced by Thulium Laser enucleation of prostate.
- Thulium Laser is also useful in operations of bladder cancer, stricture urethra, etc.
- Lifestyle changes can prevent BPH, through proper fluid intake, reducing alcohol and caffeine, and a timed voiding pattern.
3. Prostate cancer
- Most prostate cancers are slow-growing.
- The cancer may spread from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly the bones and lymph nodes.
- Prostate cancer may cause pain, difficulty in urinating, problems during sexual intercourse, or erectile dysfunction.
- The PSA test increases cancer detection rates.
- The choice of treatment is usually based on the stage and aggressiveness of the disease.
- Surgery reduces prostatic symptoms and makes follow-up easier.
- Surgery can be done by open, laproscopic or the robotic way.