If the symptoms of prostatic obstructions are limited in severity and do not interfere with the patient’s everyday life, some doctors may prefer to monitor the condition and follow up frequently to evaluate the symptom development closely. Watchful waiting has the advantage of no side-effects or complications but comes with the risk that the condition is not treated in due time.

Pharmaceuticals are the least invasive and typically first choice of treatment. The treatments normally relax the bladder neck to enable urine flow and limit further growth of the prostate. Pharmaceutical treatment may, however, not be sufficient in the long term to relief the symptoms adequately, and also cause risk of certain side-effects such as dizziness, fatigue and sexual dysfunctions.

Surgical options range from resection (TURP) to laser, vaporization etc., which generally aim at removing tissue from the prostate and thereby allow urine to flow through. Surgery is often effective and provides long-term symptom relief, but also causes risk of side-effect such as permanent retrograde ejaculation (dry orgasms), urinary incontinence, and impotence. Some forms of surgery e.g. TURP also causes risk of bladder neck stricture.

Catheters are long plastic tubes plastic inserted through the obstruction in the prostate to enable urine flow. Catheters can be single-use devices for self-catheterization, or indwelling catheters which are fixed in the body and exchanged approximately every 15-30 days. Catheters are less invasive than surgery but may also cause discomfort and pain to the user, affect quality of life, and carry a high risk of urinary tract infections.

Stents are short tubes fixed at the location of the obstruction to allow urine to pass through. Stents are less invasive than surgery and affect the everyday life of patients less than catheters, but cause risk of obstruction from kidney stones, and may pass involuntarily through the urine. In either case the stents can be replaced by a new one, or replaced with different treatment method. Certain non-metallic stents also cause risk of tissue growth into the stent, making the removal process difficult.