Finding out about your surgeon

Until a couple of years ago, urologists were required to publish their data for RP on the BAUS website - a couple of the big egos ignored the requirement but almost everyone else did it. Then last year, we all realised that the data had been mysteriously removed from the website and has never reappeared so the only way to find out is to ask the urologist.

Ideally, what you want to know is:
- how many RPs did s/he do last year and the year before
- what % of those had positive margins
- what % require adjuvant RT
- what % go on to have biochemical recurrence and require salvage RT within 2 or 5 years
- what % are continent at the 12 month mark
- what % can get a natural erection at the 12 month mark which is firm enough for penetrative sex
- what % can get an erection firm enough for penetrative sex with the aid of medication by the 12 month mark

If you are asking these kinds of questions, important to be clear about language if you are given broad responses. The NHS defines a man as continent if he is using one pad per day or less at 12 months post-op, and recovering erectile function is the ability to get an erection either naturally or with chemical / mechanical help ... it doesn't include whether the erection is hard enough for penetration.

Also, your surgeon may not have all this data as some don't see their patients again after the 6-week post-op check up and some see their patients but don't always ask them to complete the BAUS quality of life questionnaire.