Impotence / Erectile Dysfunction
What is impotence/erectile dysfunction (ED)?
Impotence, or erectile dysfunction, is the inability to achieve an erection and/or dissatisfaction with the size, rigidity and/or duration of erections. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), erectile dysfunction affects up to 30 million men.
Although in the past it was commonly believed to be due to psychological problems, it is now known that for most men erectile dysfunction is caused by physical problems, usually related to the blood supply of the penis. Many advances have occurred in both diagnosis and treatment of erectile dysfunction.
Male Factor Infertility
What is infertility?
Infertility is defined by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) as a disease of the reproductive system that impairs the body's ability to perform the basic function of reproduction. Although conceiving a child may seem to be simple and natural, the physiological process is quite complicated and depends on the proper function of many factors, including the following, as listed by the ASRM:
- Production of healthy sperm by the man Production of healthy eggs by the woman
- Unblocked fallopian tubes that allow the sperm to reach the egg
- The sperm's ability to fertilize the egg
- The ability of the fertilized egg to become implanted in the uterus
- Adequate embryo quality
Prostate Disease
What is prostate disease?
Facts about the prostate gland.
The prostate is a sex gland in men. It's about the size of a walnut, and surrounds the neck of the bladder and urethra—the tube that carries urine from the bladder. It's partly muscular and partly glandular, with ducts opening into the prostatic portion of the urethra. It's made up of three lobes: a center lobe with one lobe on each side. The prostate gland secretes a slightly alkaline fluid that forms part of the seminal fluid, a fluid that carries sperm.
Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)
What is benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)?
BPH (also referred to as benign prostatic hypertrophy) is a condition in which the prostate gland becomes very enlarged and may cause problems associated with urination. BPH can raise PSA (prostate-specific antigen) levels two to three times higher than the normal level. An increased PSA level does not indicate cancer, but the higher the PSA level, the higher the chance of having cancer.
Some of the signs of BPH and prostate cancer are the same; however, having BPH does not seem to increase the chances of developing prostate cancer. A man who has BPH may also have undetected prostate cancer at the same time or may develop prostate cancer in the future. Therefore, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the American Cancer Society (ACS) recommend that all men over 50 consult their physicians about having a digital rectal and PSA examination once a year to screen for prostate cancer.
Prostate Cancer
More than 90 percent of all prostate cancers are discovered while they are either localized (confined to the prostate) or regional (nearby). The five-year survival rate for men diagnosed with prostate tumors discovered at these stages is nearly 100 percent. In the past 30 years, the five-year survival rate for all stages combined has increased from about 73 percent to nearly 100 percent.
Early prostate cancer may not present with any symptoms. It can often be detected with screening tests such as a digital rectal exam (DRE) or a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test. But it is not clear if the benefits of screening outweigh the risks in all men.
Talk to your doctor to learn more about the pros and cons of screening for prostate cancer to help you decide if it is right for you. Follow-up visits with your physician are extremely important if you have had an unusual DRE (digital rectal exam), or if your PSA (prostate-specific antigen) level is high. Your physician may order additional tests or suggest repeating the PSA tests.