Raena Morgan: Hi, I'm Raena Morgan with iHealthTube, visiting with Dr. Aaron Katz, the author of Prostate Health and basically Dr. Katz what we would like to ask you is what is the prostate?
Dr. Aaron Katz: Well, I think that's an important question because many men don't understand its function and where it's located. The prostate glad is usually a walnut-shaped gland that sits just beneath the bladder, and it functions to produce some of the necessary chemicals and fluids for male fertility and the ejaculate, when men ejaculate, the majority of the ejaculate is comprised of fluid from the prostate.
So if you don't have a prostate and there are population of men that are born without a prostate then you would be infertile. Now, the prostate gland sits just beneath the bladder and that's important to understand because if the prostate gland starts to grow whether both in a benign or in a cancer fashion, it can push on the urinary tube.
As it pushes on the urinary tube, it increases the pressure that the bladder is seeing; there is more resistance that the bladder has to push the urine out through the urethra and therefore men are feeling this increase in resistance. They're feeling an increase in pressure. They're going to the bathroom more frequently and they're not able to empty their bladder, giving the most common side effects such as the early lower urinary tract side effects that we see with men with early prostate conditions.
The prostate gland surrounds the urethra, and the nerves for the erection are running right along the prostate gland as well. I think that's important to understand because any treatment that we give to the prostate in mainstream medicine whether it be radiation, radical surgery, or cryosurgery, which tries to destroy the cancer can also affect the nerve bundles that are running right along the prostate which can render men to have sexual dysfunction following these procedures.
Raena Morgan: That would be something that men would be so concerned about that they might not seek information, right?
Dr. Aaron Katz: Well, that is true. Many men are very worried, well even if their PSA is going up or they're having early warning signs of urinating, that they don't want to seek advice because they may have cancer or these cancer treatments may render them impotent.
Raena Morgan: Now, doesn't the prostate gland continue to grow throughout a man's lifetime?
Dr. Aaron Katz: Yes. The prostate gland usually starts to grow after puberty when the main hormone in the male body testosterone starts to increase, and the prostate gland grows by rise by the testosterone.
Raena Morgan: Okay. So now we have a better idea, clear idea of what the prostate is. Thank you Dr. Katz.
Dr. Aaron Katz: You're welcome.
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