I Was Diagnosed With Liver Cancer. What Are My Treatment Options?
October is Liver Cancer Awareness Month, and we want to talk about targeted ways to address this type of cancer. Here’s what you should know about your treatment options.
What Are the Early Signs of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)?
Your prostate plays a key role in your ability to create semen. But that’s not the only way it might affect your life. Many men experience urinary changes as they get older because of this gland.
By age 51, you have a 50% chance of experiencing benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), or an enlarged prostate. That likelihood jumps to 80% once you turn 70.
Fortunately, as its name suggests, BPH isn’t a risk to your health. Unfortunately, the symptoms that this prostate enlargement causes can become increasingly difficult to manage.
That’s why our team at Vascular & Interventional Associates offers diagnosis and treatment for an enlarged prostate to men throughout the northern Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio, area.
How can you tell if it’s time to see your doctor about your prostate? Here’s what to watch for.
Looking for early signs of benign prostatic hyperplasia
An enlarged prostate might not be a problem except for its location so near the urethra, the tube your body uses to get rid of urine. As the gland grows, it can press on that tube, causing a range of urinary issues.
Some of the most obvious early signs of benign prostatic hyperplasia are increased urinary frequency and urgency. If it seems as though you need to use the bathroom a lot more often than you used to or the need hits you suddenly and pressingly, you might be living with BPH.
Beyond that, the added pressure on your urethra can cause:
- Trouble starting the stream of urine
- A weak urine stream that stops and starts
- Difficulty fully emptying your bladder
- The need to go during the night
- Feeling like you need to push to urinate
- Urine dribbling out after you’ve emptied your bladder
If you need to urinate more than eight times a day or if these other symptoms sound familiar, you might have BPH.
Diagnosing and treating BPH
When someone visits us with the symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia, we start with a conversation about those symptoms. Our team also looks over your medical history and determines which diagnostic tools we need from there. That might include:
- Urine analysis
- Blood tests
- A digital rectal exam
- Ultrasound imaging
If we determine that you do have BPH, we can explore multiple treatment options with you. Various medications can help to ease your symptoms, for example.
Some men get relief with oral medication, but others don’t. If medication doesn’t work for you, you don’t have to turn to an invasive surgical procedure. We also offer a minimally invasive outpatient option called prostate artery embolization. This is a targeted way to shrink the prostate and alleviate your symptoms.
If the early signs of BPH sound familiar to you, visit our Vascular & Interventional Associates team in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. Make an appointment by calling our office or by booking your visit online to ease those symptoms before they can start to seriously interfere with your quality of life.
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