[Retrospective study of the treatment of 329 patients with prostatism syndrome and review of the literature].

OBJECTIVES

New drugs for the treatment of prostatism have been developed in recent years; only surgery, however, has been demonstrated to achieve cure. Each modality of drug therapy may afford symptomatic relief in those patients in whom surgery is not indicated and a symptom-based stepwise indication could be established.

METHODS

329 patients with prostatism were treated by surgery, administration of finasteride, alphablockers or plant extracts, according to the recommendations of the WHO. Patient evaluation included abdominal US. PSA determination and uroflowmetry. Patients with urodynamic or other derangements were excluded from the study.

RESULTS

Patients with a worse quality of life and important obstructive symptoms underwent surgery. Patients with important obstructive symptoms and no complications requiring surgery (infection, urinary retention, etc.) received finasteride, which proved to be effective in these patients, although 16.6% required another type of treatment and two presented impotence. Patients treated with plant extracts had moderate prostatism; 17% of these patients required another type of treatment. Patients treated with alphablockers presented symptoms that were similar to those treated with plant extracts, but they had a more important irritative component; 24% of these patients withdrew from the study due to the side effects or inefficacy of their treatment regimen.

CONCLUSIONS

Further studies and a longer follow-up are warranted to determine whether these new drugs can replace or effectively delay (avoiding the appearance of complications) surgery. We believe that the indications for each treatment should be established according to the different stages of prostatism. Moreover, further insight into the pathogenesis of BPH, appropriate diagnostic methods and patient selection are essential to the development of new therapeutical modalities and to achieving enhanced results.