ABSTRACT

Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) is the most common pathology of the prostate which often leads to lower urinary tract symptoms. To know the natural course of any disease provides valuable information for the prognosis of that disease. The information about the natural course of BPH is usually collected from the society based data and data obtained from the placebo group of any controlled drug trial studies. Although the progression criteria for BPH is not clear yet, age, prostatic volume, deterioriation of prostatic symptom scores, alterations in PSA values, increased residual urine volume and urinary retention are the mostly accepted prognostic indicators. A four point or more increase of international prostatic symptom score seem to be the essential criteria showing the progression of the disease as a concensus of many studies. Since the progression indicators are not efficient most of the time, researchers have intended to develop algorithms and nomograms in order to evaluate these indicators as a whole.