Non-surgical therapies for benign prostatic hyperplasia

Non-surgical procedures in terms of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) depend primarily on the degree of symptoms and are recommended if the quality of life is limited by the symptoms and not the self-medication with herbal or homeopathic remedies sufficient. The simplest measure for medical care, the waiting and the controlled administration of oral medications.

Watchful waiting
With only minor symptoms, and if complications were excluded by appropriate medical examinations, the doctor / the doctor decide to observe the further development of symptoms. For this "watchful waiting" is the follow-up and careful collection and documentation of symptoms without any treatment is initiated. This is recommended for most patients with minimal symptoms approach.
The symptom severity can be based on a questionnaire as IPSS ("International Prostate Symptom Score Index") will be determined and is divided into three categories: mild, moderate and heavy.

Oral medications
For the ingestion of tablets are several groups of drugs in question:

Phytotherapy (herbal medicine) can be effective in the treatment of BPH are judged not always consistent, because the ingredients, composition and manufacturing methods differ from each other. Demonstrated the effect of some phytochemicals with anti-androgenic, anti-inflammatory and decongestant effects. The active ingredients are extracted from plants in pharmacies, but usually not by prescription. The most popular drugs are extracts of saw palmetto (Serenoa repens), the plant Pygeum africanum (African plum tree) and beta-sitosterol. When taking phytotherapeutic within certain limits, subjective and objective symptom improvements are expected.

Chemical-synthetic drugs since the 1990s have been developed. The prescription drugs must usually be taken for some time every day - these may be either a period of several months to several years - to keep the stable improvement of symptoms. The oral drug therapy results in 70 to 80% of patients for the relief of symptoms, the narrowing of the urethra is not affected.

    alpha-adrenergic blocker (tamsulosin ®, terazosin and alfuzosin ® ®)
    A portion of the prostate is composed of smooth muscle, which is controlled by alpha-adrenergic receptors (nerves). Alpha-blockers may facilitate urination by relaxing smooth muscle tissue of this

    5-alpha reductase inhibitor (finasteride ®)
    This substance leads to shrinkage of the prostate by blocking the action of hormones that stimulate the growth of the prostate. Finasteride, the active drug, inhibits the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone and leads within 6 months usually results in a reduction of the prostate by 20 to 25%. The symptoms improved immediately, but usually only after 4-6 months.