Abstract

THE POSSIBLE BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF SELENIUM SUPPLEMENTATION IN PATIENTS WITH BENIGN PROSTATIC HYPERPLASIA USING FINASTERIDE

Haidar Kadhim Al-Jawadi*, May S. Al-Sabbagh and Yousuf M. Al-Hallaq

Abstract

Background: Aging in human males leads to imbalance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation and antioxidant capacity in favor of increasing the former which lead to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Selenium, a trace element, is found to possess antioxidant properties due to its involvement in the glutathione peroxidase enzyme. Objective: This study was implemented to evaluate the clinical and biochemical beneficial effects of selenium supplementation to improve the clinical and biochemical outcome parameters in a sample of Iraqi patients suffering from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) using finasteride. Methods: Seventy individuals were enrolled in this study. Ten normal healthy individuals were set as a baseline. Twenty patients with BPH on finasteride 5mg daily were followed up for 3 months and considered as the control group. Forty other patients with BPH on finasteride 5mg daily were given selenium 200μg daily and followed up for the same 3 months. Biochemical and clinical parameters were reported monthly for the patient and control groups. They were serum prostate specific antigen (PSA), serum malondialdehyde (MDA), serum selenium level, international prostate specific score (I-PSS), and post-voidal residual volume (PVRV). Results: It was found that the group taking selenium showed a decrease in serum PSA and serum MDA and PVRV as the selenium level was increased. The I-PSS score also showed a decrease as serum selenium level increased. Conclusion: Selenium has a beneficial effect on biochemical parameters in these patients attributed to its antioxidant properties; hence the clinical parameters also showed improvement.

Keywords: selenium, antioxidant, benign prostatic hyperplasia