Could men with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) join SELECT?
Men with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a benign enlargement of the prostate gland, could join SELECT because BPH is not a cancerous or a precancerous condition. In BPH, the prostate grows larger and presses against the urethra and bladder, interfering with the normal flow of urine. More than half of the men in the United States between the ages of 60 and 70, and as many as 90 percent of men between the ages of 70 and 90, have symptoms of BPH. BPH can be treated with four different U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs: finasteride (Proscar®), terazosin (Hytrin®), doxazosin (Cardura®), and tamsulosin (Flomax®). Men were not excluded from SELECT on the basis of taking these drugs. Instead, use of these medications was recorded by SELECT investigators. • Could men on SELECT take finasteride? How many men on SELECT used this drug? Finasteride is a synthetic drug which acts by inhibiting the conversion of testosterone to a more readily available form. It is used as a
