Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

Following the medical history, the doctor will do a physical examination which obviously will focus on your urinary tract. Perhaps the most important part of the examination will be a digital rectal examination, also abbreviated as (DRE). To do so, the lubricated and gloved finger is inserted through the anal sphincter and rectum. Since the prostate is located directly in front of the rectum (Figure 1), you can imagine that the physician can feel at least the back part of the prostate. Fortunately, this allows one to roughly assess the size of the prostate, but also to determine whether or not there are hard spots, nodules, indurations, or asymmetric areas in the prostate which are suggestive of prostate cancer.

Figure 1. Normal anatomy of the

male urinary and genital tracts

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For more information about the Department of Urology, contact:

Phone: 214-648-4765, FAX: 214-648-4789

Mailing Address:  5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX  75390-9110