Herb Studied For Enlarged Prostate - Saw Palmetto Therapeutic For Urinary Symptoms?

Main Category: Prostate / Prostate Cancer
Also Included In: Urology / Nephrology;  Complementary Medicine / Alternative Medicine
Article Date: 07 Nov 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Physician-scientists are studying an herbal supplement that might aid in reducing the symptoms of an enlarged prostate in men. Recent figures show that benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) occurs in an estimated 50 percent of men over the age of 50 and in 75 percent of men 80 and older.

The research team, led by Dr. Steven A. Kaplan, professor of urology at Weill Cornell Medical College and attending urologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell, will study the affects of using saw palmetto extract compared to a placebo, with the hope of reducing the symptoms of BPH. Symptoms include difficulty starting a urine stream (hesitancy and straining), decreased strength of the urine stream (weak flow), feeling that the bladder is not completely empty, an urge to urinate again soon after urinating and pain during urination (dysuria).

It is theorized that compounds called phytoesterols, found in saw palmetto, might prevent prostate enlargement. Experts believe that prostate swelling may be caused by a rise in dihydrotestosterone (DHT) -- a testosterone derivative involved in prostate growth -- over a male's lifespan, especially during middle age. Scientists are unclear as to what causes the hormone to rise with time. However, escalating estrogen within the body has been correlated with, but has not been proven to be, directly promoting BPH. Like a basketball player blocking a shot from going into a basket, phytoesterols in saw palmetto might block natural estrogen from binding to receptors in the body.

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NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, located in New York City, is one of the leading academic medical centers in the world, comprising the teaching hospital NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medical College, the medical school of Cornell University. NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell provides state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory and preventive care in all areas of medicine, and is committed to excellence in patient care, education, research and community service. Weill Cornell physician-scientists have been responsible for many medical advances -- from the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer to the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the first clinical trial for gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, the first indication of bone marrow's critical role in tumor growth, and, most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally-conscious brain-injured patient. NewYork-Presbyterian, which is ranked sixth on the U.S.News & World Report list of top hospitals, also comprises NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/The Allen Pavilion. Weill Cornell Medical College is the first U.S. medical college to offer a medical degree oversees and maintains a strong global presence in Austria, Brazil, Haiti, Tanzania, Turkey and Qatar. For more information, visit http://www.nyp.org and http://www.med.cornell.edu.

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