Abstract:

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of tamsulosin and Serenoa repens extract (SRE) in the management of patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Patients and methods: We analyzed retrospectively aged 50 and older male patient’s urological data who received LUTS medical treatment due to BPH. We divided 80 patients into 2 groups with 40 patients in each group. First group were used selective αblocker tamsulosin 0.4mg/day and second group were used 160mg/day SRE in two divided doses. We found similar prostate volumes and demographic characteristics in both groups. We compared data including International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), quality of life score, maximum urinary flow rate (Qmax), average flow rate (Qmed) and urine volume of patients before and after two months of treatment. Results: At the end of 2 months, in Tamsulosin and SRE receiving group average decrease for IPSS was 5.1 and 4.2 respectively. Average increase in maximum urine flow rate for two groups was 3.6 ml/sec and 2 ml/sec, respectively. Improvement for IPSS and Qmax values was statistically significant intra-groups but not for between groups (p>0.05). We also found that quality of life score in tamsulosin and SRE groups decreases from 3.7 to 2.5 and from 4 to 3.1, respectively. Conclusions: This study suggests that both tamsulosin and SRE are effective in the management of LUTS associated with BPH. Both medications showed similar clinical efficacy. However, further prospective randomized trials with a large number of patients are required in order to explore the clinical success of phytotherapy in BPH

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