Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia – Prostate Cancer – Prostatitis

Posts Tagged ‘Terazosin’

Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

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Definition Benign prostatic hyperplasia, a nearly ubiquitous condition, is the most common benign neoplasm of American men and occurs as a result of hormone-driven prostate growth. Pathophysiology The prostate gland comprises three types of tissue: epithelial or glandular, stromal or smooth muscle, and capsule. Both stromal tissue and capsule are embedded with О±1-adrenergic receptors. The precise pathophysiologic mechanisms that cause Benign prostatic hyperplasia are not clear. However, both intraprostatic dihydrotestosterone and type II 5 О±-reductase are thought to be involved. Benign prostatic hyperplasia commonly results from both static (gradual enlargement of the prostate) and dynamic (agents or situations that increase О±-adrenergic tone and constrict the gland's smooth muscle) factors. Examples of drugs that can exacerbate symptoms include testosterone, О±-adrenergic agonists (e.g., decongestants), anticholinergics (e.g., antihistamines, phenothiazines, tricyclic antidepressants, anticholinergic antispasmodics, Read more [...]

Prostatitis: Advanced Therapy

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Prostatitis is one of the most perplexing disease entities with which the practicing urologist must contend. Also, the treatment of this disease is the least gratifying in that the patients often are labeled as "crazy" and have a poor response. In many ways, there are some significant similarities with interstitial cystitis, and perhaps some of the patients with complaints of prostatitis actually have interstitial cystitis, as has been suggested. Indeed, many of the symptoms and physical findings are similar and are outlined in Table 71-1. As in the case of interstitial cystitis, prostatitis has also been difficult to study, being a disease that lacked a formal and specific definition. Therefore, the National Institute for Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases (NIDDKD) convened a consensus group to define prostatitis, expressly for the purpose of describing the different prostatitis syndromes in such a way that they could be investigated, and ultimately treated, in a more efficacious fashion. These new definitions, while not being radically different from the old criteria, serve the purpose of Read more [...]

Pharmacophysiologic Rationale for the use of Alpha-Blocker Drugs

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The prostate gland is often referred to as being composed of five distinct lobes during fetal development — anterior, posterior, median, and two lateral lobes. In the adult prostate, this distinction is usually abolished and the prostate is considered to be composed of three concentric layers: the outer layer (the external prostate gland proper) and the two inner layers (the periurethral glands). Prostate cancer tends to arise in the outer layers of the glands while benign prostatic hyperplasia starts in the inner periurethral glands. Benign prostatic hyperplasia is believed to arise from fibrostromal proliferation in the periurethral glands. As the gland progresses in size, patients will present with lateral and/or median prostatic lobe(s) enlargement. This latter will result in (a) compression, narrowing, and elongation of the prostatic urethra; (b) growth of the median lobe into the bladder, causing a ball-valve effect and possibly an increase in irritative symptoms; (c) a bladder response to obstruction that may result initially in hypertrophy and subsequently in decompensation, stasis Read more [...]

Long-Acting Antagonists

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Terazosin Terazosin, an antihypertensive drug, is a selective alpha-1 adrenergic antagonist that has been studied extensively and is currently approved by the FDA for treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. This long-acting agent allows a once-a-day dosing schedule. Lepor and associates published the first randomized, placebo-controlled, phase II trial of terazosin, the largest experience to date with terazosin in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia.  This multicenter study included 285 men with symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia who were randomly assigned in equal proportions to receive placebo or 2, 5, or 10 mg of terazosin administered once daily. Of the 285 men, 237 patients completed the 4-week, single-blind, placebo lead-in period and the 12-week, double-blind treatment period. All terazosin treatment groups exhibited a significantly greater decrease in total Boyarsky symptom scores compared with the placebo cohort (p < .001). The increase in peak urinary flow rate for the 10 mg group was 3.0 mL per second, a significant change compared to baseline (p < .001). This Read more [...]

Cardiovascular Effects

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By blocking the alpha-1 adrenoceptor, these drugs cause peripheral vasodilation, which reduces total peripheral vascular resistance and thereby lowers high blood pressure. Indeed, reduction in blood pressure was the primary indication for which alpha-1 adrenoceptor antagonists were developed. The effects of selective alpha-1 blockade on the blood pressure of patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia are important in terms of the risk of adverse effects related to hypotension, both in normotensive patients and in those treated with other anti-hypertensives. Given that both benign prostatic hyperplasia and hypertension become more prevalent with increasing age, and that one would expect to find that a large proportion of older men have both conditions, these are very real concerns. Clinicians are often faced with the dilemma of what to do when treating a patient with benign prostatic hyperplasia who already has hypertension controlled by an agent other than alpha-blockers. Should the existing antihypertensive agent be withdrawn or the alpha-blockers be given in addition to existing medication? Read more [...]

Findings from Community Studies and Clinical Trials

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Symptoms It is well known that the prevalence of urinary symptoms increases with age. Based on cross-sectional community-based studies, age-related increases in the prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms have been consistently found in numerous countries in studies using similar questionnaires, despite cross-cultural differences in the prevalence of moderate to severe symptoms. Few longitudinal studies have explored the progression of lower urinary tract symptoms by following untreated men over time. Recent longitudinal findings from the community-based Olmsted County Study of Urinary Symptoms and Health Status Among Men suggest a measurable progression in symptom severity, on average, over 3.5 to 4 years accompanied by high intraindividual variability The age-related changes found in this study were consistent with autopsy prevalence studies relating prostate volume to age. Another community study has also documented symptom progression over 3 years. Continued follow-up of such community-based cohorts of men should better characterize the rate of progression of urinary symptoms over longer Read more [...]

Pharmacologic Strategies for Prevention

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Alpha-Blockers Alpha-adrenergic blockers have been shown to rapidly alleviate symptoms and improve urinary flow rates in men with lower urinary tract symptoms but do not appear to alter the disease process in such a way as to prevent progression. Alpha-blockers may induce apoptosis in the prostate gland but longitudinal data do not show a measurable effect on prostate volume. Alpha-blockers have not been typically studied in long-term controlled trials, and there are therefore only limited data available on long-term effects on outcomes. Only two controlled studies longer than 3 months have reported on outcomes such as acute urinary retention or benign prostatic hyperplasia-related surgery; only one of these, the 1-year placebo-controlled HYCAT study, had a predefined objective of evaluating resource utilization although the high proportion of patients who discontinued the study (42%) and had no follow-up information limits interpretation. In HYCAT, no significant difference was found in the number of patients who underwent prostatectomy during the 1-year trial (48 in the placebo and 41 in the Read more [...]

Alpha Blockers

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Overview Hyperplasia of the stromal tissue may or may not lead to significant enlargement of the prostate, but it usually leads to dynamic benign prostatic hyperplasia by increasing prostatic smooth muscle, which triggers increased smooth-muscle tension and resistance to urine flow. (The dynamic and static components of benign prostatic hyperplasia are discussed in the "Etiology and Pathophysiology" section.) Alpha1-adrenergic receptors in the bladder neck and prostatic capsule mediate tension in these muscles. Although the alpha1-adrenergic antagonists, or alpha blockers, currently used to block these receptors (e.g., doxazosin [Pfizer/AstraZeneca's Cardura/Cardura XL, generics] and terazosin [Abbott's Hytrin, generics]) reduce benign prostatic hyperplasia symptoms and resistance to urine flow, some of them also cause cardiovascular side effects. The latest entrants in this field (e.g., tamsulosin [Astel-las/Boehringer Ingelheim/Abbott's Harnal/Flomax/Omnic, others] and alfuzosin [Sanofi-Aventis's Xatral/Xatral SR/Uroxatral, others]) are prostate-specific or uroselective alpha blockers that reduce Read more [...]

Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia: Alpha Blockers

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Overview Numerous alpha blockers have been approved for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia in the major pharmaceutical markets (United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, and Japan), largely replacing the need for surgical treatment in the past ten years. Alpha blockers, with tamsulosin as the leading agent, currently constitute the largest segment of the benign prostatic hyperplasia drug market. Alpha-blocker drugs may differ in terms of their relative inhibitory potency and specificity for alpha1-adrenergic receptors, but most seem to exhibit the same degree of efficacy in benign prostatic hyperplasia patients . However, the propensity for inducing side effects, such as orthostatic hypotension and retrograde ejaculation, often distinguishes one alpha blocker from another. Nevertheless, alpha-blocker activity is sustained over several years of therapy, thereby eliminating the need for dose increases that could increase side effects. Mechanism Of Action Alpha blockers inhibit the activity of adrenergic receptors (also known as adrenoceptors), which cause smooth-muscle Read more [...]

Terazosin

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Terazosin (Abbott's Hytrin, generics) is a long-acting, alpha1-adrenergic-receptor blocker with a prolonged half-life that permits once-daily dosing. Abbott markets terazosin in the United States and several European countries; Mitsubishi-Tokyo Pharmaceuticals is the licensee in Japan. In March 2000, the FDA granted Mylan approval to market its generic version of terazosin; since then, several other generics have launched. The Hytrin Community Assessment Trial (HYCAT), a 12-month, multicenter study, was conducted in the United States to investigate the clinical effectiveness of terazosin therapy. Two thousand and eighty-four patients with AUASI scores greater than 12 (moderate to severe symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia) were randomized to terazosin, titrated to 10 mg, or to placebo. For patients unable to tolerate high-dose terazosin,5 mg tablets were administered instead of 10 mg. Periodic assessments during the 12-month treatment period showed a significant difference in AUASI scores between the active treatment group and the placebo group at every follow-up visit. The researchers Read more [...]