What Are The Symptoms Of An Enlarged Prostate, And Does An Enlarged Prostate Mean I Have Cancer?

March 16, 2009 -- Question: What are the symptoms of an enlarged prostate, and does an enlarged prostate mean I have cancer?

Answer: The symptoms of an enlarged prostate are both obstructive and irritative. Obstructive symptoms are weak stream, hesitancy, difficulty emptying your bladder or incomplete emptying.

Irritative symptoms are things like urgency, frequency, nocturia -- which is getting up at night to urinate.

As a prostate enlarges, men generally begin to develop obstructive and irritative symptoms. Although, not all men with enlarged prostates have obstructive and irritative symptoms.

But, for the most part, those are the major symptoms of an enlarged prostate. Those symptoms also can develop with prostate cancer, but they're really more typically seen with benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH.

Suffice it to say, if a man starts developing significant obstructive or irritative symptoms, he should discuss it with his internist, or seek the consultation from a urologist.