Open Access

ARTICLE

Early symptom improvement of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) treated with once daily alfuzosin

Fred Saad¹, J. Curtis Nickel², Luc Valiquette¹, Richard Casey³, Irwin Kuzmarov⁴, Mostafa Elhilali⁵

1 Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
2 Department of Urology, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
3 The Male Health Centres, Oakville, Ontario, Canada
4 Department of Surgery, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
5 Royal Victoria Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Address correspondence to Dr. Mostafa Elhilali, Royal Victoria Hospital, MUHC, 687 Pine Avenue West, Room S6.95, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1A1 Canada

Canadian Journal of Urology 2005, 12(4), 2745-2754.

Abstract

Introduction and objectives: A novel slow release formulation of alfuzosin should improve compliance by reducing dosing to one 10 mg tablet per day. The current study examined efficacy, at 9 days and 3 months, and safety of this formulation of alfuzosin in BPH patients.
Methods: ALF-X was a 3-month, non-comparative, observational study of 353 BPH patients from 39 Canadian Urology centres.
Results: At baseline (BL), mean age was 63.1±9.01 years, 92.6% of patients were Caucasian, 3.4% had a history of acute urinary retention, mean duration of the micturition disorder was 48.6±54.15 months, and mean PSA was 3.3±6.65 ng/mL. Mean total International Prostate Symptom Score (I-PSS) decreased from 17.5 at BL to 10.4 at M3 - an improvement of 7.1±6.82 points (40.6%, p<0.001), mostly occurring (27.0%, p<0.001) during the first 9 days. Mean Quality of Life Assessment Index improved by 0.7±1.39 points between BL and D9 (17.5%, p<0.001), and by 1.5±1.52 points between BL and M3 (37.5%, p<0.001). The proportion of 'mild' I-PSS patients increased from 11.8% (BL) to 29.7% (D9) to 39.0% (M3); those with 'severe' I-PSS decreased from 37.8% (BL) to 14.5% (D9) to 9.4% (M3). Of 144 patients with nocturia (>2 nightly voidings) at D1, 51.4% improved to <2 nightly voidings at D9, and 60.4% at M3. Adverse events related to alfuzosin occurred in 7.8% of patients; 2.0% experienced serious adverse events. There were no vasodilatory events related to alfuzosin or deaths.
Conclusions: In routine clinical practice, slow-release alfuzosin is associated with a significant improvement in LUTS, and frequency of nocturia, and an excellent safety profile.

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