[Kidney function and prostatic disease in the aged]

The pathophysiology of subvesical urinary obstruction is not solely restricted to the distal urinary tract by extension to proximal areas via reflux more systemic significance is achieved. "Each patient with a chronical distended bladder is at grave's edge" (Wildbolz). After release of increased intravesical pressure, rapid return to the normal pathomorphological conditions of the urinary organs is always rather surprising. However, once the renal parenchyma is damaged, morphological regeneration is impossible, resulting in so called hypoplastic renal atrophy. Thus, the pathophysiological significance of the prostate for bilateral obstructive nephropathy is easily understood.