HJAR Jul/Aug 2020

46 JUL / AUG 2020 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS DIALOGUE COLUMN UROLOGY ONE of the most prevalent conditions men face as they age is the enlargement of their prostate, or what inmedicine is called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). BPH affects a third of men older than 50, as many as 7 in 10 men in their 60s, and 9 in 10 men who are 85 years old, or older. 1 The prostate is a muscular gland that sits between the bladder and the penis, in front of the rectum, and wraps around the ure- thra. As a chronic condition, BPH is one of the least morbid, most frustrating and un- comfortable (never mind untreated) diagno- ses in medicine, and results from the natural proliferation of epithelial and muscle cells within the gland. This might not spell trouble if the prostate sat apart, but it doesn’t. As it grows, it hugs, even pinches, the urethra. Today, there is a revolutionary new treatment called UroLift that is growing in number and recommenda- tion. It is non-surgical, as minimally invasive as an internal procedure can be, and makes no physical change to the gland through cut- ting or lasers. It is helping a growing number of Arkansas men. BPH precipitates a variety of conditions around the act of micturition, fromdiscomfit- ing (a weak stream or dribbling at the end of urinating) to alarming (starting and stopping, the sensation that your bladder is full despite having just emptied). If BPH continues un- abated, the urethra will be pinched nearly ENLARGED PROSTATE: Is the UroLift System Right for Me? A new solution with a long record of consistent results lightens the prostate loadandrelievesurinaryblockagewithout cutting, heating, or removing tissue.