"Alphabet soup" and the prostate: LUTS, BPH, BPE, and BOO

Abstract

The patient described, though not typical, is one among many of those of the aging male population in whom their primary care physicians will increasingly diagnose diseases affecting the prostate gland. Primary care physicians then will offer first-line therapy not only for prostatic diseases but also for concurrent sexual and erectile dysfunction. This brief primer for primary care physicians "unscrambles" the alphabet in a "soup" of initialisms and acronyms for lower urinary tract symptoms, benign prostatic hyperplasia, benign prostatic enlargement, and bladder outlet obstruction.