The medical therapy of prostatic symptoms study: what will we learn?

Until recently, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) was thought of as a relatively uncomplicated disease process resulting from age-related enlargement of the prostate gland, which was thought to cause all of the symptoms associated with the disease. Prostatectomy was considered the state-of-the art treatment of BPH. Advances in our understanding of the pathogenesis of BPH and the relationship among clinical signs and symptoms has allowed for the development of pharmacologic therapies for this disorder, namely, selective alpha-blockers and 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors. These 2 classes of drugs have been demonstrated to be safe and effective for the treatment of BPH. Evidence supports different mechanisms of action, suggesting that, when used in combination, these therapies may act synergistically. The Medical Therapy of Prostatic Symptoms study was designed, in part, to test this hypothesis. Initial results of the trial are presented in this article.