Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a complex disease that is progressive in many men. BPH is commonly associated with bothersome lower urinary tract symptoms; progressive disease can also result in complications such as acute urinary retention (AUR) and BPH-related surgery. It is therefore important to identify men at increased risk of BPH progression to optimise therapy. Several factors are associated with progression, including age and prostate volume (PV). Serum prostate-specific antigen level is closely correlated with PV, making it useful for determining the risk of BPH progression. Medical therapy is the most frequently used treatment for BPH. 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors impact the underlying disease and decrease PV; this results in improved symptoms, urinary flow and quality of life, and a reduced risk of AUR and BPH-related surgery. Alpha-blockers achieve rapid symptom relief but do not reduce the overall risk of AUR or BPH-related surgery, presumably because they have no effect on PV. Combination therapy provides greater and more durable benefits than either monotherapy and is a recommended option in treatment guidelines. The Combination of Avodart® and Tamsulosin (CombAT) study is currently evaluating the combination of dutasteride with tamsulosin over 4 years in a population of men at increased risk of BPH progression. A preplanned 2-year analysis has shown sustained symptom improvement with combination therapy, significantly greater than with either monotherapy. CombAT is also the first study to show benefit in improving BPH symptoms for combination therapy over the alpha-blocker, tamsulosin, from 9 months of treatment.

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IntroductionBacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) is a live attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis that has been used to treat urothelial carcinoma since 1976, and has been reported to eradicate disease in more than 70% of patients with in situ and stage I disease. To the best of our knowledge, we report the first case of disseminated bacillus Calmette-Guerin infection causing multiple abscesses affecting the pancreatic head and right psoas muscle, diagnosed 5 years after intravesical treatment with bacillus Calmette-Guerin therapy for bladder cancer.Case presentationAn 83-year-old Caucasian man was hospitalized with a 2-month history of back pain, anorexia, generalized weakness and a 47-pound weight loss. He had previously undergone two transurethral resections for high-grade transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder and had received 12 intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin instillations without any complications. He complained of abdominal pain in his right flank. A computed tomography scan of the abdomen showed multiple abscesses affecting the pancreatic head and right psoas muscle. Growth of Mycobacterium bovis was determined in cultures of the purulent material obtained by surgical drainage of the abscesses.ConclusionsThis case illustrates the fact that although intravesical administration of bacillus Calmette-Guerin is generally considered to be safe, it is not exempt from complications and these could appear immediately after treatment or as a delayed complication many years later.