Role of alpha blockers in the treatment of BPH: a critical review of clinical results.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a benign disease characterized in a high percentage by cervico-urethral disorders. With regard to the obstructive aspect, this is the result of two components: mechanic and dynamic. The mechanic component is a direct consequence of the obstruction caused by enlargement of the prostate gland and the urethral deformation. The dynamic, on the other hand, is derived from the increase in tone of the smooth muscle following stimulation by adrenoreceptor alpha, localized at the level of the bladder neck, prostatic urethra and prostatic capsule. The use of alpha blockers in the treatment of BPH has the goal of intervening in the effects of the obstruction acting on the dynamic components. The use of alpha-blockers drugs, as explained in published literature, shows more or less satisfactorily, a significant symptomatic improvement and consequently an improvement in the quality of life. But the use of alpha blocker presently available may be considered as an unspecific or primitive, strictly symptomatic treatment for irritative symptoms for those who desire to postpone surgery, or in the cases in which surgery is not recommended or refused by the patient, and finally, to prevent acute urinary retention while the patient is waiting for surgery.