What are the 5 stages of bladder health?

In this video, Wayne Kuang, MD, discusses the 5 stages of bladder health. Kuang is a urologist and CEO of the MD for Men Team in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Transcription:

What are the 5 stages of bladder health?

We've talked a little bit about the Man vs Prostate campaign, and it's really important that it's built upon a principle of linguistic determinism. We really believe, if we look at all parts of our lives, that words shape our thoughts, which shape our actions, which shape our habits. What we have found now with the Man vs Prostate campaign is that there are 3 primary drivers to good health policy for BPH/BPO. The first one we all know about is the right de-obstruction. The second is the right data that can drive the right diagnosis. And the third is the right dialog, and it happens between urologists, but more importantly, it happens between the urologist and the patient on that very first clinical visit. We need to help ignite the conversation and help patients self ignite to want to get their data, to find the right solutions to their mechanical problem of BPH/BPO. And so I came up with the 5 stages of bladder health as a framework within which we can have these dialogs and these conversations. It might be easier if I just give you an example. It might be like, "Mr. Smith, I just want to share with you a quick secret. You know how you filled out this International Prostate Symptom Score. It says 'prostate,' but I'm going to let you in on a little secret. It's actually also about the bladder. There are only 2 major organs you can't transplant, right, Mr. Smith? The brain and the bladder, so we need to take care of it. The heart is a muscle that pumps blood. The bladder is a muscle that pumps urine through the prostate that starts off about the size of a golf ball, but in the shape of a mini donut. And so it's really important that we understand what's going on here, because as that prostate grows bigger, that donut hole is going to grow tighter and things are going to slow down." And that is actually the first stage of the 5 stages of bladder health: Things slow down. For urologists, we call that benign prostatic obstruction. Then, if we allow that bladder muscle to keep struggling over years, decades, it begins to struggle and it begins to quiver and it becomes overactive, causing urgency frequency and getting up in the middle of night to pee or nocturia, stage 2. And as urologists, we call that detrusor over activity, or overactive bladder. Then, if we don't take care of it, the bladder can act out, like a rebellious child, contract without permission, squeeze without permission, causing you to leak urine down your leg. And that's called urging continence, stage 3. And then stage 4, if you really don't take care of it, just like the heart can have a heart attack, the bladder can suddenly stop working, and you show up in the emergency room needing a catheter for stage 4: retention. And then stage 5, just like the heart can go into heart failure, the bladder can go into bladder failure, causing a lifetime of catheters, because that bladder has now died. Worst-case scenario, though, the heart can still be transplanted. The bladder, unfortunately, can't. So we need to really focus on prioritizing the preservation of bladder health. And yes, the transitions are not distinct. Some of the stages can be skipped. Some of the stages can coexist. But it really highlights how BPH/BPO can steadily progress, steadily escalate to more serious and more pressing stages. It highlights the possible consequences if we choose not to take action about your prostate, and it also highlights our shared goal to prevent the late stages of this disease, and we can do that together with the right data. And so those are the 5 stages of bladder health, and it's just a way to talk about the problem and what consequences may lay ahead for us on this journey that we share with our patients. Because really, what we're trying to do is change the concept that we're trying to be the coach to our patients. We're trying to be the Gandalf to their Frodo, the Yoda to their Luke, and guide them, not get them to do anything, but guide them to make the best decisions for them, their prostate and their bladder and for their lives, so they can be the best version of themselves, chemical free and catheter free.

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