Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), also called benign prostatic hypertrophy or enlarged prostate, is a disease which affects men. Due to BPH, the vast majority of men develop an abnormal enlargement of the prostate, which affects the urinary and reproductive systems. The probability of suffering from BPH increases with age and it is thought that all men will suffer from it if they live long enough. The disease is non-cancerous and does not threaten patients’ lives, but it can cause discomfort, which is why it is treated.
The prostate is a walnut-shaped gland with two lobes, located in men’s bodies below the bladder about halfway between the rectum and the base of the penis. The gland is responsible for the production of a fluid that is expelled along with semen through the urethra during ejaculation. Since the prostate surrounds the urethra, which is the tube that carries urine and semen out of the body, when it become enlarged, the urethra may become squeezed or partly blocked.