The Study of Alfuzosin and Finasteride in the Treatment of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia
Abstract
Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) is a hyperplasia process where there are an increased number of cells from the transition zone of the gland. The goals of the study were: (1) to compare the effectiveness of finasteride 5mg (Proscar) versus alfuzosin 10mg (Xatral XL) for the treatment of BPH; (2) to compare the treatment costs of both drug; (3) to compare the side-effect profile of both drug. All patients who have been diagnosed with BPH and have been receiving the treatment in SOPD Hospital Tuanku Ja’afar were reviewed. The inclusion criteria were: (1) male more than 45 year old; (2) patients who are not suffering from recurrent or rebound BPH. Subjects were evaluated using the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) questionnaire The score and side effects occurrence were analysis by SPSS. Only 66 men were analyzed in the study as 6 men (8.3%) were excluded. 36 of them (55%) are taking Finasteride 5mg once daily whereas the other 30 men (45%) are taking the extended released form of Alfuzosin 10mg once daily. The distribution of subject’s age is even. Subjects with Finasteride 5mg have higher score (mean = 22.18) than Alfuzosin 10mg (mean = 18.87) (p<0.05). However, the total side effect score of both drug showed no significant different (p>0.05). Finasteride group (mean = 0.52 case) has experienced a slightly more side effect than the Alfuzosin group (mean = 0.50 case). This study concluded that both Alfuzosin and Finasteride provide symptomatic relief to BPH patients. Alfuzosin with its faster onset of action could be very useful for patients who were diagnosed with BPH and carry moderate IPSS scores.