Benign prostatic hyperplasia treated by castration or the LH-RH analogue buserelin: a report on 6 cases

This article presents the clinical data of 5 patients treated by castration and 1 patient treated with an LH-RH analogue to relieve chronic urinary retention due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Besides the clinical data related to prostatism, prostatic volume was studied in 4 of the 5 patients by means of transrectal ultrasonography. All 5 patients showed a marked decrease of prostatic volume, which averaged 31.4% (range 19-55%) after 2-3 months. This correlated well with a relief of urinary obstruction. In all 5 patients, the indwelling catheters could be removed, symptoms decreased or disappeared and all 5 patients became free of residual urine. LH-RH analogues, because of the reversibility of their effect, may be more acceptable for the treatment of BPH than castration. At this moment however, it remains unknown whether prostatic volume will increase again after cessation of androgen withdrawal.