Anatomy of the Male Urinary Tract

Your urinary tract helps to get rid of your body’s liquid waste. Here's how it works:

• The kidneys. These constantly filter the blood to collect unneeded chemicals and water, making urine.

• Ureters. Urine travels through the ureter tubes to the bladder.

• The bladder. This fills with urine, holding it until you’re ready to release it. Signals from the brain tell the muscles around the opening of the bladder (sphincter) when to let urine flow out of the bladder.

• Urethra. This is the tube that carries urine from the bladder out of the body.

• Prostate gland. In men, the prostate gland wraps around the urethra near the bladder.