2003 American Urological Association Gallup survey: physician practice patterns, cryosurgery/brachytherapy, male infertility, female urology and insurance/professional liability.

Purpose: The Health Policy Survey and Research Committee of the American Urological Association and the Gallup Organization have performed 10 surveys of American urologists since 1992 for the purpose of assessing demographics and practice patterns. The results of the 2003 survey are presented.

Materials And Methods: A random sample of 510 urologists who have completed urological residencies was interviewed by telephone in February 2003.

Treatment options for localized prostate cancer: quality-adjusted life years and the effects of lead-time.

Objectives: The purposes of this study were to estimate the difference in quality-adjusted life-years between conservative management and prostatectomy or radiotherapy (RT) by clinical Gleason score (2 to 4, 5 to 6, 7, and 8 to 10) for patients aged 55 years and older with clinically localized prostate cancer and to adjust for and explore the effects of lead-time. For localized prostate cancer, it is not known whether treatment (prostatectomy or RT) results in longer quality-adjusted survival than conservative management. Observed survival benefits after treatment may be biased by the lead-time resulting from early diagnosis with prostate-specific antigen screening.