Influence of Prostate Volume in the Medical Treatment of Male Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms with Tamsulosin

Bae, Jae Hyun; Kim, Dae Kyung; Lee, Jeong Gu

Abstract

PURPOSE: To evaluate the influence of prostate volume on the changes of International Prostate Symptoms Score(IPSS) and other clinical parameters in men with lower urinary tract symptoms(LUTS) undergoing tamsulosin treatment.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Patients were evaluated initially by IPSS/QoL questionnaire, digital rectal examination(DRE), transrectal ultrasonography(TRUS), urinalysis, serum prostate-specific antigen(PSA), maximal urine flow rate(Qmax) and post-void residual urine(PVR). Patients were grouped according to baseline prostate volume(PV): PV<20 ml(group A), 20 ml< or =PV<30 ml(group B), 30 ml< or =PV<40 ml(group C), PV> or =40 ml(group D). All the patients were given tamsulosin 0.2 mg per day. After 8 weeks of tamsulosin treatment, clinical efficacy was determined by changes of IPSS/QoL scores, Qmax and PVR volumes.
RESULTS
Overall 672 patients were enrolled initially and 580 patients have finished the protocol. After treatment, total IPSS score was decreased by 6.2 point(31.7%) and Qmax was increased by 1.8ml/sec(29.7%). When clinical outcomes were compared according to the different PV groups, there were no statistically significant differences among groups except significant Qmax changes between group B and D.
CONCLUSION
Clinical efficacy of short term tamsulosin medication is not affected by the prostate volume. It may be necessary that the results of this study should be confirmed in further long term follow-ups.