ABSTRACT

A 72-year-old man consults his GP because he has been troubled by problems passing urine for the last few months. In particular, the patient has had problems in starting to urinate.This is mirrored by a protracted end to each episode of micturition. When he thinks he has finished urinating he finds that he tends to dribble for more than a few seconds and confides that, on a couple of occasions, this has nearly led to embarrassing incidents when he was using public toilets. On being asked by the GP, he indicates that his urinary stream is not as strong as it was when he was younger and that urination takes longer than it used to. Other than the problems with the dribbling, the patient has not had any episodes of urinary incontinence. There have been no alterations in his bowel habit or problems with faecal continence.