Prostatism – urinary symptoms caused by the prostate
**IMPORTANT prostatism symptoms are not necessarily caused by an “enlarged” prostate because it’s not the absolute size of the prostate that causes symptoms, it’s how much the prostate is interfering with the flow of urine.
Useful to divide symptoms into storage and voiding.
Storage
- Frequency
- Urgency
- Nocturia
Voiding
- Hesitancy
- Poor flow
- Intermittent flow
- Straining
- Incomplete emptying
Symptoms can be graded using the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) which rates emptying, frequency, intermittency, urgency, weak stream, straining, and nocturia on scales of 0 – 5. You then add the scores together to get a score out of 35.
0-7 Mildly symptomatic
8-19 Moderately symptomatic
20-35 Severely symptomatic
(www.prostatecancer.ca)