born in 1960s, grew up in Hong Kong, went to medical school in Sydney. lived in Hong Kong, Sydney, London and Chicago. currently working as a general surgeon in private practice in Hong Kong. writes during my little spare time left from professional and family life.
Education/Experience: University of New South Wales, MBBS. University of Birmingham, M. Sc (hospital and health management)
Interests: writing, reading, running, internet, health promotion, education
Motto: live your dreams
Elderly men with reduced urine
stream are often diagnosed to have “Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia”. You are
somewhat younger. Your symptoms are similar in that you have a slow stream and
you don’t feel you that you have emptied your bladder completely during
voiding. Are you, or is your prostate, aging too soon? After initial tests,
your doctor diagnosed “Bladder Neck Dyssynergia”. Here is more information on
the condition.
The condition is also known as
“Bladder Neck Dysfunction”. It is often found in young and middle aged men but
women are not immune. It is associated with an incomplete opening of the
bladder neck during voiding (rather than having the urethra squashed by the
prostate, as in “Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia”). The prostate is usually normal
in size and consistency to the examining doctor when examined rectally. Uroflow
graphs, obtained by getting patients to void with a fully distended bladder
into a flow measuring instrument, often demonstrate flat reduced flow rates.
The diagnosis is often established by voiding cystogram (a special X ray) or
cystoscopy (endoscopy of the bladder and urethra).
Drug treatment with an alpha
receptor blocker is often tried first. Side effects are infrequent but include
impotence and lethargy. Surgical
treatment with cystoscopic incision of the bladder neck is definitive, but is
often not advisable in young patients who may wish to remain fertile, as the
incidence of retrograde or absent ejaculation may occur in 15% to 50% of
patients.