New Frontiers In Prostate Therapy And Medication

Here are the latest prostate treatments being experimented and researched. The jury is out on all of them so ask your urologist for the latest news.

Botox, used for wrinkle reduction , has also been experimented on men with BPH. Basically botox is a poison - well known as Clostridium botulinum which is another way of saying food poisoning. The botox used in wrinkle treatment and other medical treatments is a purified form of this chemical. How does it work ? Botox contains a chemical which causes the muscle to contract thereby removing wrinkles. When used on the prostate, it relaxes the gland and takes some of the pressure off the urethra and also kills off some of the prostate cells. This leads to a considerable improvement in symptoms associated with an enlarged prostate and in most cases, men were able to report an improvement in quality of life.

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These results were presented at the 2007 meeting of the American Urological Association. They showed that about 75% of the men in the trial reported a 30% improvement in BPH symptoms. More trials will have to be done to see if there are any long term side effects..How is it done ?. Botox is injected by means of an ultrasound probe, takes a few minutes and only needs a little local anesthetic. Its effects can last up to a year but it does cost quite a lot - about $2,000 an injection !

Aspirin, regarded as the great cure-all has been investigated for enlarged prostate treatment and the results were promising. Some men take aspirin for heart conditions over a long period and trial studies showed that these men had about a 50% reduction in prostate enlargement and about a third were less likely to have any problems in urinating. The only drawback is that the long term side effects of aspirin ( and other similar drugs such as Ibuprofen) can lead to gastrointestinal bleeding and stomach ulcers. I was told once to take aspirin which were specially coated to protect the stomach for angina . Jury is still out on this one. The Mayo Clinic has reported that there is strong evidence to support the fact that patients already taking aspirin type drugs for other conditions like arthritis or heart problems may well be able to gain benefit for theor prostate condition.

The drugs which are used to treat erectile dysfunction (ED) are the well known Cialis and Viagra. Many men who take these also suffer from an enlarged prostate. Combination therapy with the ED drug and an alpha-blocker such as Uroxatral were found to be effective in reducing BPH symptoms and ED problems. These findings were presented at the 2006 American Urological Association. More studies and research are being carried out.

• Experiments have been carried out using Cetrorelix which is a luteinizing hormone which works through a complicated mechanism in reducing the amount of testosterone in the body which in turn leads to the production of another hormone which causes the prostate gland to increase in size. First clinical trials show that there was an improvement in some symptoms associated with an enlarged prostate.

Another alpha blocker has been experimented with and its name is Silodosin which is capable of targeting the prostate more accurately than all the other alpha blockers. That means in simple terms that it will not affect blood pressure which is a problem associated with all the other blockers. More clinical trials are being carried out.