Signs of an Enlarged Prostate
When it comes to the prostate, here is a visualization that makes it easy to understand and remember:
According to WebMD.com, the prostate is the size and shape of a walnut.
But as you age it can grow.
A 40-year-old man may have a prostate the size of an apricot.
And in a 60-year-old man, the prostate might be the size of a lemon.
Why the Size of your Prostate Matters
The prostate sits below the bladder, in front of the rectum and surrounds the urethra — the tube that carries your urine from your bladder.
As the prostate grows, the prostate puts pressure on the urethra and causes issues with urination. In fact, you’re likely to not think about your prostate until you have a problem.
Signs of an Enlarged Prostate
The most common problem for men older than 50 is an enlarged prostate, also called benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH, according to the National Kidney and Urological Disease Information Clearinghouse.
According to the American Urological Association by the age of 60, more than half of men have an enlarged prostate. At the age of 85, 90% of men have an enlarged prostate.
WebMD shares these signs of an enlarged prostate:
- Difficulty urinating
- Urgency to urinate
- Feeling like your bladder isn’t completely empty
- A slow or weak urinary stream
- Waking at night to use that bathroom
- A urinary stream that starts and stops
- Straining
- Continued dribbling of urine
When urine doesn’t vacate the bladder properly, it can lead to other problems like urinary tract infections, incontinence, blood in the urine and bladder stones. If you are not able to urinate at all, that is a medical emergency so you should go straight to the emergency room.
In some cases, enlarged prostates can lead to bladder or kidney damage – even prostate cancer.
That’s why at the first sign of a problem you should go see your doctor.
Florida Center for Prostate Care
According to Prostate Cancer Research one in eight men will develop prostate cancer during his lifetime. The risk is one in four for African American men. Most will be diagnosed after the age of 70. And because some prostate cancers grow slowly, they may never be detected in some men, or they may cause no symptoms.
The Good News: Prostate cancer is treatable and curable – especially in the early stages.
If you are diagnosed with prostate cancer, call the experts at the CyberKnife Center of Miami. We treat prostate cancer with a non-invasive form of radiation called Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy or SBRT. And we’ve treated hundreds of prostate cancer patients successfully.
According to a 2015 study, in prostate cancer patients treated with CyberKnife, erectile function preservation compared favorably to data following radical prostatectomy, a radiation therapy called brachytherapy or conventional radiation treatments.
CyberKnife has a 97% cure rate for prostate cancer. It’s noninvasive and CyberKnife treatments can be done in five therapy sessions over 10 days instead of 42 over three months with other types of radiation treatments.
The CyberKnife radiation beams, which target and destroy the tumor, are so precise, there is a reduced risk of side effects including impotence and incontinence.
Side effects of CyberKnife may include tiredness, and urinary and rectal irritation. Medication can help minimize these, and they usually go away in a few weeks. And there’s no risk of infection like there is with surgery.
If you are diagnosed with prostate cancer, call CyberKnife Miami for a consultation at 305-279-2900 or go to go to our prostate cancer website. We can talk to you about why CyberKnife may be a better option for you.