[Treatment of benign prostatic hypertrophy: present situation and future prospects]

Review article offering an up-to-date view and a forecast for the future evolution of a disease which over the last few years has been the subject of increasingly scientific thoroughness. It deals with the natural history of the disease and the application of basic knowledge from other fields. It establishes the importance of a therapeutic evaluation of the results obtained with alternative medical and surgical approaches in the management of this entity. This review of benign prostate hyperplasia analyses the present realities and the future perspectives of the disease. It includes the most important contributions from international consensus and recommendations, and evaluation of the impact of drug treatment, the discredit of alternative options, the contribution of basic sciences to the understanding of the development of prostate cancer and the future of surgical management (TUR) and its alternatives.