ULTRASONICALLY DETERMINED PATTERNS OF ENLARGEMENT IN BENIGN PROSTATICHYPERPLASIA

A series of 430 men aged 40 to 79 years underwent transrectal ultrason ography (TRUS) as part of a community survey of benign prostatic hyper plasia (BPH). We describe a reproducible method of prostate volume est imation and discuss the implications of prostate dimension changes in BPH. The mean prostate and adenoma volumes for the group were 32 ml (S D 14) and 15 ml (SD 11) respectively. The antero-posterior dimension o f the prostate (APD) had the strongest correlation with gland volume c ompared with the transverse dimension (TD) and length (L). The mean ra tio of adenoma volume to prostate volume was 0.45 (SD 0.13) and this i ncreased with increasing gland volume. There was a modest correlation between the ratio and prostate volume. BPH is characterised by a propo rtionally greater increase in the APD compared with L and TD and by an increasing adenoma/prostate ratio. TRUS is useful in assessing the ty pe and extent of adenoma and prostate enlargement in BPH.