What is the prostate, and what symptoms can it cause?
In answer to this question, I’d actually like to touch on one point. Because when male patients come to me, most of them say, “Doctor, I have a prostate.” Naturally, it makes me want to laugh.
And that hint of a smile shows on my face right there in front of the patient. Because every man has a prostate. It is an organ.
However, the prostate can cause complaints. There can be prostate complaints, and in such cases the patient needs to say exactly what the complaints are. In most cases patients have obstructive complaints.
What are they? A weak urine stream. Getting up at night to urinate.
Hesitancy — that is, there is an urge to urinate, but when the patient goes, the urine comes with a delay. Or, after emptying the bladder, the patient walks out and five minutes later — or immediately — has the feeling that the bladder hasn’t fully emptied.
This is what is called residual urine syndrome. In such cases these are obstructive voiding complaints. Of course, there are other complaints too.
Burning when urinating, pain in the perineal area, that is, behind the scrotum — these already point to somewhat broader diagnoses. In such cases the complaints may correspond to prostatitis, or to a collection of pus in the prostate called an abscess. For all of these, special examination methods are used.
Even a simple digital rectal examination can clarify the diagnosis here: is it acute prostatitis, is it benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), or is it even prostate cancer? This can be detected even by a simple digital examination. That is why, when someone says “prostate complaints,” it has to be clarified.
Which complaints, when they started, whether it is an acute phase or they have been present for several months. These are very significant factors, and in such cases, after the patient has shared his own thoughts, it would also be right for the doctor to ask questions that guide things in the right direction.
Last updated: