PROSTATE SPECIFIC ANTIGEN

BPH is Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia or benign prostatic hypertrophy, it is a condition in which the prostate gland becomes enlarged in older males. BPH is non-cancerous growth and there is a rapid increase in the number of cells in the prostate gland. As a man grows older there are more chances of prostate gland to enlarge, a normal prostate gland grows throughout the lifetime of a man, but during the second phase of growth during the sixties there are more chances of enlargement of the prostate gland.

The cause factor for the enlargement of the gland was unknown for decades, recently based upon the studies conducted on animals showed that increase in amount of estrogen is a main factor that contributed to the growth of cells in the prostate gland. Men secrete large amount of testosterone and small amount of female hormone estrogen throughout the lifetime, but when they become old, the secretion of testosterone decreases and estrogen rises. The rise in female hormone is one of the main factors that lead to prostate enlargement or BPH.

With BPH urinary bladder in males will start to lose its function, emptying of the bladder will not take place completely. Few of the symptoms related with this disease are weak flow of urine, leaking and the need for frequent urination. In most males as the disease becomes worse and the victim may not be able to pass urine.

BPH symptoms can be relieved or lessened by employing various procedures. Transurethral microwave procedure is used in patients with enlarged prostate gland; it involves destroying the excess or unwanted tissues with the heat energy produced by the microwaves. This procedure requires less time and there is no need for the patient to get hospitalized. Other treatments include water induced thermotherapy, transurethral needle ablation and high intensity ultrasound. Although all of these procedures do not treat the disease itself, they are only symptomatic treatments and do not address the source of the disease.