Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be

talking about benign, prostatic hyperplasia. And you can find written notes on this topic at

zero definals.com slash BPH or in the u urology section of the zero definals surgery book.

So let's get straight into it.

Benign prostateic hyperplasia or BPAH is a very common condition that affects men in older age,

usually over the age of 50 years.

It's caused by hyperplasia or growth of the stromal and epithelial cells of the prostate.

It usually presents with lower urinary tract symptoms.

So let's talk in more detail about lower urinary tract symptoms.

There are typical lower urinary tract symptoms, or L-U-T-S, that occur with prostate pathology.

And these include hesitancy, which is difficulty starting and maintaining the flow of urine,

a weak flow, urgency where there's a sudden pressing urge to pass urine,

frequency, which is needing to pass urine often, usually

with only small amounts. Intermittency, which is where the flow starts and stops and varies

in rate. Straining, where the patient has to strain to pass urine. Terminal dribbling, which is

dribbling after finishing urination, incomplete

emptying which is not being able to fully empty the bladder resulting in chronic retention,

and nocturia, which is having to wake up at night to pass urine multiple times.

The International Prostate Symptoms Score, or IPSS, is a scoring system that can be used to assess

the severity of the lower urinary tract symptoms.

Let's talk about assessment.

The initial assessment of men presenting with lower urinary tract symptoms involves a digital

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