On 9 Jun, 2022, Seniors Today hosted their weekly live webinar. This week we had with us Dr Avanish Arora, who spoke on and answered questions about Urological Complications in Senior Citizens.
Dr Avanish Arora is Director – Urology and Uro-oncology and Senior Consultant – Robotic Urology, Nanavati Max Hospitais an MBBS from GS Medical College and KEM Hospital Mumbai and a Master of Surgery from the Tata Memorial Hospital. He has done DNBs in General Surgery and GenitoUrinary Surgery, MNAMS, MCh, MRCS, Fellowship in Advanced Laparoscopic and Robotic Urology, Guildford, UK. He has undertaken training in Laparoscopic and Robotic Urology, IUPUI, Indianapolis, USA, Fellowship in Endourology, Mumbai and has received the Hargobind Foundation Fellowship, the Birla Smarak Foundation Fellowship and the Eagle Travelling Fellowship (USI).
He has over 26 years experience in endourology and laparoscopic urology and uro-oncology., and was Consultant and HOD, Urology, Uro-oncology and Renal Transplantation, SevenHills Hospital, Mumbai from 2010 to 2018. He was Faculty, Department of Urology, KEM Hospital, Mumbai.
He is a member of the Urology Society of India, West Zone Urology Society, the American Urological Association the General Medical Council, UK and the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, UK.
In males, the most common urology symptom that is seen over the age of 55 years is increased frequency of urination. Having to go pass urine more frequently than every 3 hours means you have increased urine frequency. Increased frequency is a marker of illness and should be investigated.
Another common symptom in the elderly males is increased urgency. This includes the feeling of wanting to pass urine to sometimes even passing a few drops to more than just drops on urine before you reach the bathroom. This is caller urge incontinence.
Nocturia- having to get up in the night to pass sleep. This can cause interrupted sleep and lead to irritable mood during the day.
The above three are called irritating voiding symptoms.
Obstruction in the passage of the urine while passing urine can lead to straining while urinating.
Intermittency in urine is another symptom where you cannot good your entire bladder in one go and thus have an interrupted stream.
Sense of incomplete voiding is a marker of an enlarged prostate, obstruction in the pathway or decreased bladder strength.
Hematuria is less common in males than females. Blood in urine can be due to infection of the urinary tract, obstruction such as stone or cancer.
Some individuals also complain of blood in semen which also needs urgent investigation.
Another common symptom that is thought to be common and less talked about is- poorer erections. One of the common causes for poor erections with advancing age is uncontrolled diabetes, long periods of abstinence.
With advancing age, the prostate increases in size. This increase in size can lead to obstruction in the passage of urine. This can any of the above symptoms, singularly or multiple symptoms. An endoscopic treatment can relieve the stress obstruction.
An enlarged prostate can be easily diagnosed via per rectal examination.
75% of the individuals with an enlarged prostate get cured of all their symptoms by simple medication.
