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Your prostate naturally grows larger over the years. By the time men reach 60, at least one-third of them struggle with urinary problems due to an enlarged prostate. At Mission City Urology, Arpan Satsangi, MD, PhD, specializes in today’s most advanced treatments for an enlarged prostate. Dr. Satsangi performs minimally invasive surgery for office-based procedures such as the UroLift® System and Rezūm® System. If you need help with urinary symptoms, call the office in San Antonio, Texas, or request an appointment online today.
Enlarged Prostate Q & A
What causes an enlarged prostate?
Your prostate gland goes through two growth phases. One occurs during puberty. The second phase starts around the age of 25 and continues throughout your lifetime.
As men get older, their prostate often reaches a size that’s large enough to cause symptoms. That’s when they have an enlarged prostate, also called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).
An enlarged prostate doesn’t cause or increase your risk of developing prostate cancer, but it does cause urinary symptoms.
What symptoms develop if I have an enlarged prostate?
The tube that carries urine from your bladder through your penis (the urethra) goes through the center of your prostate gland. As the gland enlarges, it pushes against the urethra and affects the flow of urine.
An enlarged prostate causes symptoms such as:
- Difficulty starting to urinate
- Weak urine stream
- A urine stream that stops and starts
- Sudden urges to urinate
- Dribbling after urination
- Inability to completely empty the bladder
- Frequent need to urinate (during the day and night)
Some men don’t have symptoms until they can’t urinate because of a blocked urethra.
How is an enlarged prostate treated?
If you have mild symptoms, you may only need medication to make it easier to urinate. When your symptoms are severe, Dr. Satsangi recommends one of the following:
UroLift System
The UroLift System improves the flow of urine using implants that gently compress the prostate and move it away from the urethra. Dr. Satsangi inserts the UroLift device into your penis and guides it through the urethra to the prostate gland.
Then he uses the device to put specialized implants on the prostate. The implants can stay in place indefinitely, or Dr. Satsangi can easily remove them if needed.
Rezūm System
Dr. Satsangi guides the Rezūm device through the urethra and into the area where the tube goes through the prostate gland. Then he activates the device, sending a brief burst of water vapor (steam) into the prostate.
The steam kills the nearby cells, and your body naturally clears away the dead tissue. That decreases the size of the prostate and restores the flow of urine.
Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP)
If you have a severe urethral blockage, Dr. Satsangi may recommend a TURP. During the procedure, he guides an instrument through your urethra and then uses it to cut away the prostatic tissue pushing against the tube.
If you develop urinary symptoms, call Mission City Urology or request an appointment online today.