Drug Therapy at Luzato Medical Group

April 29, 2020

An enlarged prostate happens to almost all men as they get older.  This condition can lead to many health complications, such as trouble urinating, bladder damage, and kidney damage.  An enlarged prostate can also cause erectile dysfunction or problems with ejaculation.  At Luzato Medical Group, we have drug therapy that can help with complications in the bladder.  The two different drug therapies that urology doctors in New York prescribe are alpha blockers and hormone suppressors.
 

Alpha Blockers

Men who have an enlarged prostate gland may have urination issues such as having to wait before their urine starts to flow, taking longer to pass urine, dribbling urine, or feeling that the bladder isn’t quite empty.  When this happens, alpha blockers can be used to resolve the issue.  Alpha blockers lower blood pressure by keeping the hormone norepinephrine from tightening the muscles in the walls of smaller arteries and veins.  Due to this, alpha blockers help relax muscle tissues in the bladder and prostate, which improves urine flow.  There are short-acting and long-acting medications; short-acting medications have faster results but only last a couple of hours, while long-acting medications take longer to work but last longer.  A urologist in NYC will help you select which type of alpha blocker you need.  Some of the alpha blockers that urologists in NYC use are Flomax, Uroxatrol, and Raplafo.

Hormone Suppressors

The medications that urology doctors in New York use to minimize the prostate gland are called Proscar and Avodart; they are also known as 5-alpha reductase inhibitors.  Hormone suppressors inhibit the enzyme 5a-reductase, which convert testosterone to dihydrotestosterone, resulting in the shrinkage of the prostate.
If you’re having issues with urinating or other health issues that come with an enlarged prostate, you may want to consider drug therapy.  The advantage of drug therapy is that urology doctors in New York use it as an alternative to surgery.  If you’re interested, our urologist in NYC will help you select the right drug therapy to fit your needs.