Evaluation of serum lipid levels in clinical benign prostatic hyperplasia patients with terazosin monotherapy

Nine clinical benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) patients were treated with oral terazoin monotherapy (2 mg daily) for 12 weeks. Serum lipid levels (total cholesterol, triglyceride, high density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein, apoproteins) were estimated prior to and every 4 weeks during treatment in 5 patients. International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and pressure-flow study were evaluated before and 12 weeks after treatment in 4 patients. The total cholesterol level decreased from a baseline of 210 +/- 36.6 mg/dl by 6.6% at the 12th week. This result was not significant but suggested a favorable effect of terazosin on diminishing the risk of coronary heart disease. This effect was marked especially in patients with a total cholesterol level over 200 mg/dl. On the other hand, IPSS improved in all cases. The mean change ranged from 19.5 to 10.0 and the mean peak flow rate from 9.0 to 15.7 ml/s. On Sh?ffer's nomogram, 1 patient showed improvement of obstruction and the other 3 patients were diagnosed as having week detrusor without obstruction. Clinical BPH patients with hyperlipidemia may markedly benefit from terazosin, which is a safe and useful initial treatment for BPH.