Submitted by Robert Myers, M.D.
 Copyright Mayo Clinic
Prostate, not Prostrate
Yes, men of ’59, you had a prostate in 1959. Now, you may or may not have one depending on what happened during the last 50 years. But what does the prostate do? “The gland is inaccessible during life; its secretions are difficult to collect, and it has no known measurable function. It is not essential for life and is associated in some way with reproduction, but even for this it is not essential.” (2, Franks) And the prostate certainly can cause misery, whether fever, infection, acute or chronic pain, irritative or obstructive urinary voiding symptoms, or cancer.
In the last 35 years, I have looked at and removed, as of reunion time, more than 5000 prostates, all but one for cancer. Prostates don’t all look alike and their diversity is remarkable. In the video that combines computerized tomography for bone and magnetic resonance imaging for soft tissue, you see the precise location of the prostate with its “rabbit ear” seminal vesicles within the pelvis. Below, you see comparisons that urologists love to make with the real world.
(1) Blandy, JP, Lytton, B, The Prostate.London;Buttersworth, 1986
(2) Franks, LM, Origins of benign prostatic hypertrophy. In: Hinman,F(ed) Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy. New York;Springer, 1983.
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