Nonsurgical BPH treatments: What are key patient characteristics to consider?

In this video, Raevti Bole, MD, discusses patient characteristics she considers when weighing nonsurgical treatments for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). At the 2024 Sexual Medicine Society of North America Fall Scientific Meeting, Bole presented the talk “Updates in Nonsurgical BPH Management.” She is a urologist at Glickman Urological & Kidney Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio.

Transcription:

How do you assess the long-term durability of nonsurgical treatments for BPH?

That's a good question. I think the main point here is that they're not meant to be durable. All the nonsurgical treatments that we're talking about in the review we just gave at the SMSNA are medical options. [These] are things that you have to continue doing every day. And for some people, that's something that really works for them. They don't mind taking a medication every day because [there's] the feeling that it's temporary and they can stop at any time if they want to. That's something that they want. Durability is something that's important to folks who say, "I just want to be 1 and done. I want something that's definitive. I want this to last a long time and not have to take something every day."

Are there specific patient characteristics or factors that may influence the likelihood of treatment success and the need for alternative treatments?

Yes, absolutely. So whenever someone comes into my office with urine trouble, and says, "What do you recommend?" and they're trying to go with something a little less procedural and maybe something more like what we're talking about, something nonsurgical, I tell them, "I don't want to have to worry about you hurting your body on whatever treatment that you're on." I want to make sure that they're a good candidate in the sense that they don't have some kind of kidney damage that's going to put them at risk for further kidney damage if the treatment is not as strong or aggressive as it needs to be. I want to make sure that I know how strong their bladder function is, because bladder damage can sometimes raise the risk that one of the less procedural or definitive treatments might work well for you over time. I want to make sure that the treatment is working, so once I put someone on a medication, if they had any problems with emptying their bladder before, or any problems with urinary infections or blood in the urine, I need that to clear up for them, or else that's not going to be a viable long-term treatment option for them that's actually going to benefit in the long run.

This transcript was AI generated and edited by human editors for clarity.