TITLE:
The Effect of Switching Patients with Symptomatic Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia from Tamsulosin 0.2 mg to 0.4 mg
AUTHORS:
Supadach Teawongsuwon, Sompol Pempongkosol
KEYWORDS:
Tamsulosin; Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy (BPH); Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS)
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Urology,
Vol.3 No.2,
May
17,
2013
ABSTRACT: Objectives: In 2010,
tamsulosin 0.2 mg (OD) was withdrawn from Thailand and replaced with tamsulosin
0.4 mg (OD). Therefore, we assessed the impact of this change on the patients,
at a men’s health clinic, with lower urinary tract symptoms suggestive of
benign prostatic hyperplasia (LUTS/BPH). Material and Methods: Subjects
were 100 men with BPH who had been taking tamsulosin 0.2 mg as needed for at
least 3 months. The outcome measures were IPSS, AMS and IEFF5 scores and
uroflowmetry. Tolerability was evaluated on by adverse events. Changes from
baseline were assessed using the paired t-test. SPSS version 12.0 was
used for statistical analysis, with p
0.05 considered significant. Results: The mean follow up of
tamsulosin 0.2 and 0.4 mg were 20.23 and 10.56 months respectively. On
switching from tamsulosin 0.2 to 0.4 mg, mean IPSS score improved from 15.54 ± SD 1.25
to 14.13 ± SD 1.09 (p = 0.034), Q max 15.91 cm3/sec ± SD 1.36 to 16.69 cm3/sec ± SD 1.52
(p = 0.128), and nocturia 3.15 ± SD 0.32 to 2.68 ± SD 0.39 (p = 0.015),
respectively. However IEFF-5 score and AMS score increased from14.78 ± SD 1.38
to 15.79 ± SD 1.03 (p = 0.0055) and 34.76 ± SD 2.76
to 33.21 ± SD 2.62 (p = 0.0853), respectively. Treatment-related
adverse events of Tamsulosin 0.2 mg included dizziness (4%), postural
hypotension (3%) and retrograde ejaculation (3%). Interestingly,
no withdrawals resulted from adverse events during Tamsulosin 0.4 mg
assessment. Conclusions: Switching to tamsulosin 0.4 mg improves LUTS.
The change was well tolerated by the majority of patients. Increased symptoms
scores of erectile dysfunction and aging male during the study may be due to
increased age.