Why transurethral resection of the prostate is done?
Sometimes surgery is needed to remove the part of a prostate cancer that is pressing on the tube that carries urine from your bladder (the urethra). If anything presses on the urethra this can make it difficult for you to empty your bladder properly. Your doctor may suggest an operation to take away some of the cancer so that you can pass urine more easily again. This operation is not done to cure your cancer. But it can relieve symptoms caused by the cancer pressing on your urethra. This operation is also often used for men who have a non cancerous (benign) swelling of the prostate gland called benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). In this section of CancerHelp we are just describing its use as a treatment for prostate cancer. This type of surgery is called a TUR or TURP, which stands for ‘transurethral resection of the prostate’. How a TURP is done? A TURP is carried out by passing a thin tube up the urethra through your penis. The tube has a tiny camera and an eyepiece, so that the su
