The impact of the bladder wall thickness on the outcome of the medical treatment using alpha-blocker of BPH patients with LUTS

Objectives: To evaluate whether the outcome of medical treatment with alpha 1 receptor blocker in Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) is affected by the bladder wall thickness (BWT) Methods: A total of 125 male BPH patients with LUTS were enrolled. All patients were assessed using The International Prostatic Symptom Score (IPSS), prostate specific antigen (PSA), prostate volume, uroflowmetry, post voiding residual (PVR). BWT was measured by Trans-abdominal ultrasound, and patients were divided into two groups group 1 (patients with BWT <5 mm) and group 2 (patients with BWT >= 5 mm). The patients were reassessed after 2 months of treatment with alpha 1 receptor blocker (alfuzosin 10 mg). Clinical parameters were analyzed and compared between groups. Results: There were significant difference between both groups as regard IPSS, voiding symptoms, and storage symptoms (p = 0.005), (p = 0.010) and (p = 0.041) respectively. After medication, there were improvements in the total IPSS, voiding symptoms, storage symptoms, Qmax, PVR and Qol in both groups and these improvements were more effectively in (group 1) than (group 2) with statistically significant differences (p<0.05). Conclusion: BWT has positive correlation with the total IPSS, voiding symptoms subscores and storage symptoms subscores. The response to medical treatment is found statistically less in patients with BWT greater than 5 mm.