Enlarged Prostate (BPH): Why It Happens and What Can Be Done

最終更新日： 2026年8月15日

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Benign prostatic hyperplasia — BPH, or simply an enlarged prostate — is one of the commonest things men come to see me about. It rarely arrives suddenly. The symptoms build so gradually that most men adjust around them for years before mentioning it to anyone, which is a shame, because it is very treatable.

Symptoms that suggest BPH

• A weak stream, and having to strain to get going
• The sense that the bladder never quite empties
• Getting up at night to pass urine, and waking tired because of it
• Passing urine more often through the day
• A sudden, hard-to-defer urge to go
• Dribbling at the end, or a stream that splits

None of these is dangerous in itself. What they cost is sleep, confidence and the freedom to be far from a toilet — and that is reason enough to have them assessed rather than tolerated.

• 泌尿器センター バンコク病院 タイ オンライン予約 02-310-3009 bhquro@bdms.co.th
• サミティジ・シラチャ病院 チョンブリ 088-022-1445

Why the prostate enlarges

BPH is suspected mainly in men aged 50 and over, and three conditions have to be met for it to develop at all:

1. A prostate gland. Obvious, but it makes the point — BPH does not occur without prostatic tissue.
2. Androgen. The male hormone drives prostatic growth. Men with androgen insufficiency from birth do not develop BPH, which is what established the hormone’s role.
3. Age. The consistent finding across the literature is that ageing is the fundamental trigger. The gland gains both more cells and larger ones over time, which is why measuring prostate size is part of the assessment.

Read those three together and the conclusion follows: an ageing man with normal hormones will develop some degree of BPH. US data bear that out — it affects 50% of men aged 50 and over, 70% of those aged 60–69, and more than 80% of men aged 70 and above. This is not a disease you catch or bring on yourself; it is closer to a feature of male ageing.

What you can actually influence

BPH cannot be prevented outright, since neither ageing nor androgen is optional. Its pace is another matter, and two risk factors are within your control:

1. メタボリックシンドローム — there is strong evidence that hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidaemia increase prostate size.
2. 肥満 — which appears to raise oxidative stress within prostatic tissue and contribute to enlargement.

Controlling blood pressure and blood sugar, losing excess weight and staying active will not shrink the prostate, but they slow the trajectory — and they happen to be the same measures that protect the heart and the erections, which makes them an easy recommendation.

Why it is worth treating rather than tolerating

Left long enough, obstruction has consequences beyond inconvenience: 膀胱感染症 from urine that never fully clears, bladder stones, a bladder muscle that thickens and eventually works poorly, and — in severe, long-standing cases — damage to the kidneys.

The one that brings men to the emergency department is 急性尿閉 — suddenly being unable to pass urine at all, with a painfully full bladder. BPH is its commonest cause, and treating the prostate properly reduces the risk of ending up there.

One thing to be clear about

BPH is not prostate cancer, and it does not turn into prostate cancer. It is not a pre-cancerous condition. The two can coexist, and they cause overlapping symptoms, which is exactly why the assessment includes examination and a PSA discussion rather than assuming one or the other.

治療法

Mild symptoms that do not bother you may need nothing more than monitoring. Where they do bother you, medication is the usual first step and works well for most men. For those who want to come off long-term tablets or who have not responded to them, water vapour therapy (Rezum) is a minimally invasive day-care procedure available at Bangkok Hospital Headquarters — there are also patient instructions for what the procedure involves.

BPH関連の排尿症状を経験している方、またはウォータースチーム療法を含む治療法について探求したい方は、Dr. Soarawee Weerasoponeがバンコク病院本院で専門的な診察を行っております。. 診療をご予約. サミティウェート・シーラチャ病院のご予約は、泌尿器科（電話番号：）までお問い合わせください。 088-022-1445.

前立腺肥大症（BPH）に関するよくある質問

免責事項 この記事は、バンコク病院本部のボード認定泌尿器科医であるソアラウィー・ウィーラソポン医師（Dr. Soarawee Weerasopone）によって執筆および監修されています。教育目的のみを意図しており、医学的なアドバイスを構成するものではありません。個人的なメッセージチャンネルを通じて、医学的なアドバイス、診断、処方箋が提供されることはありません。医療処置を開始する前に、必ず資格を持った医療従事者にご相談ください。.