Background: Lower urinary tract symptoms suggestive of benign prostatic hyperplasia (LUTS/BPH) is the fourth most common and the fifth most costly disease in men aged 50 years or older. Despite the high prevalence of LUTS/BPH in clinical practice and evidence-based guideline recommendations, there are still plenty of misconceptions on the terminology and pathophysiology of the disease, leading to false assumptions and malpractice.
Objectives: Listing of commonly used false assumptions and clarification of the correct terminology and pathophysiology.
Materials and methods: Critical reflection of 12 selected fake news based on PubMed search.
Results: Average prostate weight in healthy men is 20 g but varies between 8-40 g. The BPH-disease does not progress in stages; therefore, the BPH-classifications according Alken or Vahlensieck should not be used anymore. There is only a weak and inconsistent relationship between bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) and prostate size, diverticula/pseudo-diverticula, postvoid residual, urinary retention or renal insufficiency, which is too unreliable for BOO-diagnosis in the individual patient. Urethro-cystoscopy with grading of the degrees of occlusion of the prostatic urethra and bladder trabeculation is insufficient for BOO-diagnosis. There is no clinically relevant reduction of BOO with licensed BPH-drugs and no convincing data that prostate resection (TURP) has to be complete until the surgical capsule in order to obtain optimal results.
Conclusions: The reasons for the persistent use of wrong terminology and pathophysiology are diverse. One reason is lack of implementation of evidence-based guidelines into clinical practice due to lack of knowledge, individual beliefs, costs, availability and reimbursement policies. Another reason is the increasing focus on oncology, coupled with underrepresented education and training on BPH.
Keywords: Benign Prostatic Enlargement; Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia; Bladder Diverticulum; Bladder Outlet Obstruction; Myths; Postvoid Residual; Transurethral Resection of the Prostate.