Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in Men: A Review

Importance: Up to 40% of men older than 50 years have lower urinary tract symptoms, including urinary urgency, nocturia, and weak urinary stream, due to disorders of the bladder and prostate. These symptoms negatively affect quality of life and may be associated with urinary retention, which can cause kidney insufficiency, bladder calculi, hematuria, and urinary tract infections.

Observations: In men, lower urinary tract symptoms can be caused by bladder outlet obstruction secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), an overactive bladder detrusor (a syndrome of urinary urgency and frequency), or both. Behavioral therapy, including pelvic floor physical therapy, timed voiding (voiding at specific intervals), and fluid restriction, can improve symptoms. Medications including α-blockers (such as tamsulosin), 5α-reductase inhibitors (such as finasteride), and phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors (such as tadalafil) improve lower urinary tract symptoms (mean improvement, 3-10 points on the International Prostate Symptom Score [IPSS], which ranges from 0-35, with higher scores indicating greater severity) and can prevent symptom worsening measured by increased IPSS greater than or equal to 4 points or development of secondary sequelae, such as urinary retention. Combination therapies are more effective than monotherapy. For example, α-blockade (eg, tamsulosin) combined with 5α-reductase inhibition (eg, finasteride) lowers progression risk to less than 10% compared with 10% to 15% with monotherapy. Treatment for overactive bladder detrusor, including anticholinergics (eg, trospium) and β3 agonists (eg, mirabegron), reduces voiding frequency by 2 to 4 times per day and reduces episodes of urinary incontinence by 10 to 20 times per week. Surgery (eg, transurethral resection of the prostate, holmium laser enucleation of the prostate) and minimally invasive surgery are highly effective for refractory or complicated cases of BPH, defined as persistent symptoms despite behavioral and pharmacologic therapy, and these therapies can improve IPSS by 10 to 15 points. Minimally invasive procedures, such as water vapor therapy (endoscopic injection of steam into BPH tissue) and prostatic urethral lift (endoscopic insertion of nonabsorbable suture implants that mechanically open the urethra), have lower complication rates of incontinence (0%-8%), erectile dysfunction (0%-3%), and retrograde ejaculation (0%-3%) but are associated with increased need for surgical retreatment (3.4%-21%) compared with transurethral resection of the prostate (5%) and holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (3.3%).

Conclusions and relevance: Lower urinary tract symptoms, defined as urinary urgency, nocturia, or weak stream, are common among men and are usually caused by BPH, overactive bladder detrusor, or both. First-line therapy consists of behavioral intervention, such as pelvic floor physical therapy and timed voiding, as well as pharmacologic therapy, including α-adrenergic blockers (tamsulosin), 5α-reductase inhibitors (finasteride), phosphodiesterase inhibitors (tadalafil), anticholinergics (trospium), and β3 agonists (mirabegron).

Author/s:

John T Wei, Casey A Dauw, Casey N Brodsky

Patient-Reported Outcomes 12 Years after Localized Prostate Cancer Treatment

Aubrey Delammermore — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 05:00:00 +0000

Date Added:

April 5, 2023

Journal/Publication:

New England Journal of Medicine

Publisher:

Massachusetts Medical Society

Publication Date:

March 11, 2023

Issue:

Volume:

URL:

Patient-Reported Outcomes 12 Years after Localized Prostate Cancer Treatment

Type:

Clinical Research Results

Format:

Article

DOI (1):

10.1056/EVIDoa2300018

Keywords

Androgens

Prostatectomy

Patient Reported Outcome Measures

MeSH

Evidence of long-term quality of life-relevant outcome after various treatments for localized prostate cancer from an RCT. James W. Mold, MD, MPH

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Long-term patient-reported outcomes are needed to inform treatment decisions for localized prostate cancer.

METHODS
Patient-reported outcomes of 1643 randomly assigned participants in the ProtecT (Prostate Testing for Cancer and Treatment) trial were evaluated to assess the functional and quality-of-life impacts of prostatectomy, radiotherapy with neoadjuvant androgen deprivation, and active monitoring. This article focuses on the outcomes of the randomly assigned participants from 7 to 12 years using mixed effects linear and logistic models.

RESULTS
Response rates exceeded 80% for most measures. Among the randomized groups over 7 to 12 years, generic quality-of-life scores were similar. Among those in the prostatectomy group, urinary leakage requiring pads occurred in 18 to 24% of patients over 7 to 12 years, compared with 9 to 11% in the active monitoring group and 3 to 8% in the radiotherapy group. In the prostatectomy group, 18% reported erections sufficient for intercourse at 7 years, compared with 30% in the active monitoring and 27% in the radiotherapy groups; all converged to low levels of potency by year 12. Nocturia (voiding at least twice per night) occurred in 34% in the prostatectomy group compared with 48% in the radiotherapy group and 47% in the active monitoring group at 12 years. Fecal leakage affected 12% in the radiotherapy group compared with 6% in the other groups by year 12. The active monitoring group experienced gradual age-related declines in sexual and urinary function, avoiding radical treatment effects unless they changed management.

CONCLUSIONS
ProtecT provides robust evidence about continued impacts of treatments in the long term. These data allow patients newly diagnosed with localized prostate cancer and their clinicians to assess the trade-offs between treatment harms and benefits and enable better informed and prudent treatment decisions. (Funded by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research Health Technology Assessment Programme projects 96/20/06 and 96/20/99; ISRCTN number, ISRCTN20141297; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02044172.)

Author/s:

Donovan, J. L., Hamdy, F. C., Lane, J. A., Young, G. J., Metcalfe, C., Walsh, E. I., Davis, M., Steuart-Feilding, T., Blazeby, J. M., Avery, K. N., Martin, R. M., Bollina, P., Doble, A., Doherty, A., Gillatt, D., Gnanapragasam, V., Hughes, O., Kockelbergh, R., Kynaston, H., Paul, A., Paez, E., Powell, P., Rosariom D. J., Rowe, E., Manson, M., Catto, J. W., Peters, T. J., Wade, J., Turner, E. L., Williams, N. J., Oxley, J., Staffurth, J., Bryant, R. J., Neal, D. E.