Q: I am posting a query for my father who is 66 years of age and has developed prostate gland enlargement. One week back he had fever and shivering and his urine stopped but now after medicines the urine has started again. His sonography says size is 5.5 by 6.1 by 6.5 cm with volume of 115 cc. My urologist has given medicines for 15 days and said it might get alright, else he will need surgery. But he has undergone angioplasty 2 years back so is it advisable for this surgery and can it be treated with medicines? The urologist has asked for a blood test to see if it is cancerous in nature or not. I am worried as I need the right advice. Please help.

A:Your dad has prostatic enlargement and at the age of 65 it is better to get a PSA test (which urologist has asked for) to rule out any possibility of cancer in his prostate. I agree that now drugs for obstruction are effective and we need to operate upon fewer patients than what we used to. I think the approach is to manage as many as possible with medicines and all those do not show satisfactory improvement may need surgery. Even surgical techniques have evolved and are fairly safe. Even if you dad requires surgery with his previous angioplasties, I do not think it to be a cause of worry. If need be, get surgery done at a hospital with a good setup and anaesthetic backup. Do not worry everything would be fine.