Introduction to a Comprehensive

Guide to Your Prostate 1

Dominique Thomas, Bilal Chughtai
Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, United States

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and its sequela lower urinary tract symptoms are
nondiscriminatory chronic conditions affecting approximately 50% of men as they
reach their 50th decade of life.1 As the aging male population increases, the incidence
of BPH steadily increases linearly.1 In the United States, each year trillions of dollars
are spent on health expenditures to treat those with symptoms.2 Furthermore, patients
affected by BPH are known to be at higher risk of developing depression, having a
decreased quality of life, falls, and increased mortality.3 Thus, developing an arma-
mentarium of treatment options, ranging from medical therapy to surgical procedures
when the patient is symptomatic is a major medical concern.
A Comprehensive Guide to the Prostate: Eastern and Western Approaches for
Management of BPH is a complete and multidisciplinary guide toward the diagnosis,
management and treatment modalities associated with BPH. This guide will explore
the different treatment options available for symptomatic patients from medical ther-
apy and behavioral changes, naturopathic methods for patients with a preference for
holistic approaches to their health and surgical methods.
First-line therapies include medications such as alpha-blockers, 5-alpha reduc-
tase inhibitors, or combination therapy, which has shown relief for certain patients.4
However, patients may seek out other options such has naturopathic methods such as
herbs to heal the prostate. Surgically, there have been a variety of techniques used to
resect or ablate the enlarged prostatic tissue.
Each chapter will delve into the different management options available for BPH,
which have been utilized and their demonstrated efficacy through the available research
and clinical data. Furthermore, we will introduce alternative techniques used to treat
BPH such as Eastern and Western medical practices. This compendium of writing is
intended to shed light on complementary and alternative medicine as well as novel tech-
nologies employed in the treatment of BPH. The goal is to provide a comprehensive
guide that will allow patients and caretakers, anyone treating BPH and researchers alike,
to understand the BPH disease process and a comprehensive approach toward its treat-
ment. Thus, this book is a unique and irreplaceable reference guide.

References
1. Chughtai B, Forde JC, Thomas DD, et al. Benign prostatic hyperplasia. Nat Rev Dis Prim
2016;2:16031.
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Health Expenditures. CDC.

A Comprehensive Guide to the Prostate. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-811464-3.00001-5

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
2 A Comprehensive Guide to the Prostate

3. Markland AD, Thompson IM, Ankerst DP, Higgins B, Kraus SR. Lack of disparity in lower
urinary tract symptom severity between community-dwelling non-hispanic white, Mexican-
American, and African-American men. Urology 2007;69(4):697–702.
4. Chughtai B, Thomas D, Kaplan S. Alpha-blockers, 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors, acetylcho-
line, beta3 agonists, and phosphodiesterase-5s in medical management of lower urinary tract
symptoms/benign prostatic hyperplasia: how much do the different formulations actually
matter in the classes? Urol Clin N Am 2016;43(3):351–6.