Patient's question:
My father has benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and we need to urge him to go to the hospital for a check-up, but he always delays going. Can benign prostatic hyperplasia be left untreated?Doctor's answer:
If patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia do not receive timely and effective treatment, while new tissue continues to grow, old tissue remains stagnant, the amount of hyperplastic tissue will increase, ultimately compressing the urethral orifice of the bladder, leading to acute urinary retention. If it worsens further, it will compress the urethral orifice of the bladder, increasing intravesical pressure, causing hydronephrosis, which can further lead to kidney failure and uremia. Additionally, residual urine will accumulate each time, leading to sedimentation and the formation of stones, as well as conditions such as prostate cancer.