BPH treatment ranges from oral medications to minimally invasive procedures to surgical procedures.
Minimally invasive procedures available recently include urolift (prostatic urethral lift) where implants are placed in the prostate to open up the channel for the man to be able to pass urine smoothly.
It is a day procedure, i.e. no hospitalisation is required and the patient would have minimal downtime and can return to his daily activities without much interference. Most patients would not require placement of a urine tube (urethral catheter) after the surgery and discomfort during urination is usually tolerable with oral painkillers and the symptomatic relief is best appreciated at least 1-2 weeks from the procedure. This would be recommended for men who are still sexually active and would not want to sacrifice their sexual function in the process of improving their urinary flow and symptoms.
The common surgical procedures for BPH would be transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) and transurethral vaporisation of the prostate (TUVP).
In both procedures, the urologist would use either an electrical knife (bipolar diathermy) or a laser (greenlight laser) to create a good channel in the prostate so that the man can pass urine smoothly.
Most patients would be admitted for 2 days and there is a need for a urine tube to be placed immediately after the surgery and depending on the condition of the recovery, the urologist would decide when to remove the tube. Almost all of us will aim for the tube to be removed before the patient is discharged. This is a good procedure that has stood the test of time. However, the patient would not be able to have ejaculation after the successful operation. This is irreversible and in some patients, they may complain of erectile dysfunction and even painful orgasms.
