What is prostate enlargement and how it can be diagnosed?
The prostate gland is a small gland in a peanut size located around the neck of the urethra. It is responsible for production of seminal fluid, the fluid that nourishes the sperms and carries it during ejaculation. With time passing by and specifically after the age of 40, the prostate gland start to swell in a small percentage of men, by the age of 50 a larger portion of men experience swollen prostate and with older ages the majority of men suffer from benign prostatic hyperplasia.
The swelling of the prostate gland affect the urination and induces a general uncomfortable feeling. Yu may notice some or all of these symptoms that indicate you are suffering from a prostate problem. If you experience dribbling in urine or the flow of urine becomes weaker, if you feel that you wait for a while before you start urinating, some people complaint from hitting the bathroom several times during the night and they measured their blood sugar and find it normal. These symptoms indicate that there is something wrong with your prostate and it is better to be examined.
The manual examination is inconvenient for many patients because it involves inserting a gloved and lubricated finger through the rectal opening to palpate the prostate gland. If you are one of those who are unable to take this test then an X-ray test or even an ultrasound test would be a better choice, after all if the manual palpation indicated that you have a swollen prostate gland then you will do the x-ray and the ultrasound tests.
Doing a urine analysis is very important to find out if there is any infection or inflammation in the prostate or the surrounding area. The tests may include also the prostate specific antigen in blood which is a significant test to exclude prostate gland cancer.
If this is not the first time to feel the symptoms then your doctor may ask you about the propagation of the case and whether the symptoms increased, decreased or relieved for good. In general prostate swelling is a regular thing that occurs to most men but if it turned out to be a malignant tumor then it is a serious problem that needs immediate medical attention and sometimes hospitalization to proceed with the surgical procedure to remove the whole prostate gland.