“Is the prostate growing and getting harder, so it squeezes on the tube and narrows the tube, or is it that the tube itself is actually getting smaller, or is it a combination of these things?”

This is a fundamental question to understanding benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a disease affecting the majority of aging men.

In a recent episode of The Health Curve titled “Prostate & Urinary Health: What Every Man Should Know,” host Jason Arora, MD, MPH, MA and CAIRIBU BPH Research Interest Group member Wilson Sui, MD discuss what the prostate actually does, why symptoms like frequent urination or weak stream develop, and how doctors evaluate these issues using simple tools such as symptom scoring and blood testing.

Dr. Sui says the above question remains unanswered. However, Dr. Shane Wells, a diagnostic radiologist at the University of Michigan, is working towards this. Dr. Wells is a U54 O’Brien Center Opportunity Pool Alumnus whose research is focused on developing non-invasive image-based biomarker (MRI and US) of the prostate and bladder with the goal of improving treatment-related outcomes in patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS).

The podcast has over 1.5 million views on YouTube, highlighting the importance of BPH research to the public.