Can happen benign prostatic hyperplasia in castrated men?
ANSWER: Hi there, This is a very interesting question, which is not approved or rejected with clinical evidences. However, it is theoretically possible for a castrated man to develop BPH, because of the hormonal changes in the organism. As you probably know the risk factors for developing BPH are ageing, hereditary and nationality. The most important among these factors is the ageing, because with the age the production of testosterone is reduced. However, the organism compensates the lack of testosterone with increased production of estrogen (the female sex hormone). It is scientifically proved that the increased production of estrogen stimulates the cell growth, which is characterized by BPH. So, if the man is castrated, there are not testicles, which can produce testosterone, but the organism needs sexual hormone. Therefore, the suprarenal glands start to produce more estrogen than usual. Theoretically this increased production of estrogen can lead to prostatic cell growth – BPH. However, this is just in a theory, because there is no clinical data, which can support this statement. Hope it helped! Dr.Alba |