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Lower urinary tract symptoms in men, age-related (including symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia/hypertrophy) - Management
What causes of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in men should I check for?
- Check for the underlying cause of the specific type of LUTS.
- Exclude or manage other serious causes of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), including:
- Urological cancer
- Alarm signals for urological cancer include a prostate that is hard and irregular, unexplained haematuria, lower back pain, bone pain, and weight loss.
- Marked urinary frequency or urgency, and bladder pain may be signs of bladder cancer.
- If urological cancer is suspected, refer the man with appropriate urgency. For more information, see the CKS topic on Urological cancer - suspected, which covers suspected cancer of the prostate, bladder, kidney, and penis.
- Urological infection
- Alarm signals for urological infection include pain when urinating, pelvic pain, loin pain, fever, and abnormal urine dipstick test findings.
- If urological infection is suspected, confirm and manage accordingly. For more information, see the CKS topics on Prostatitis - acute, Prostatitis - chronic, Pyelonephritis - acute, Urethritis - male, and Urinary tract infection (lower) - men.
- Drugs, including drugs that can cause polyuria and drugs than can cause voiding (obstructive) symptoms.
- If the symptoms could be caused by a drug, consider if the dosage could be decreased, or if the drug could be stopped or replaced by another.
- Sciatica or other neurological disease
- Sciatica causes weakness, numbness, or tingling in a leg. It sometimes causes or aggravates LUTS.
- For information on the diagnosis and management of sciatica, see the CKS topic on Sciatica (lumbar radiculopathy).
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