Medical Management of BPH: Is it the End for Surgical Options

The concept of medical management of symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is not new. It came in the early 80s when for the first time it was noticed that the symptoms attributed to prostatic enlargement could be managed with pharmacotherapy alone [1]. However, marginal improvement in comparison to the surgical options and increasing awareness of the side effects led to a lack of acceptance of pharmacotherapy as a standard of treatment for the next two decades. It was during this time that minimal access surgeries like transurethral resection of prostate also took precedence over open surgeries leading to much safer and faster convalescence; that further hindered the development of medical therapy as the forerunner in the management of BPH for quite some while.