title: Safety of anticholinergics in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Storage lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) or overactive bladder (OAB) often coexist with voiding symptoms in patients with benign prostatic obstruction (BPO). Anticholinergic medications to treat storage LUTS are often withheld in such patients for fear of significantly increasing post-void residual urine volumes or provoking acute urinary retention (AUR).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the clinical validity of concerns regarding urinary safety of anticholinergics in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Review of indexed literature and congress abstracts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Existing urinary and non-urinary safety data on BPO patients administered anticholinergics, either alone or in combination with alpha-blockers, do not seem to support the above-mentioned concerns. Nevertheless, precise criteria for patient and drug selection to ascertain safe and effective administration are not yet established and need to be investigated in future trials.
authors.affiliation: University of Patras, Medical School, 26500 Patras, Greece.
authors.forename: Anastasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Athanasopoulos
authors.forename: Dionisios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mitropoulos
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Giannitsas
authors.forename: Petros
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Perimenis
mesh_terms: D000317:Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018680:Cholinergic Antagonists / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018579:Patient Selection; D011470:Prostatic Hyperplasia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D053201:Urinary Bladder, Overactive / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D014555:Urination Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology
chemical_list: D000317:Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists; D018680:Cholinergic Antagonists