A small item, but one that most, quite possibly all, of us know about
.
You've just checked in with the receptionist in your uro's office for your appointment.
She hands you a clipboard with some papers for you to fill out, and asks you to be seated in the waiting room, complete them, and hand them and the clipboard to the nurse when she comes out and calls you back for your appointment.
One of the forms is a health history, asking you to check off all the diseases, conditions, etc., you have had, and whether you are currently taking medications for them.
And then there is this one. Click to display it and I'm sure it will look VERY familiar:
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/nternational-prostate-symptom-score-questionnaire_fig1_316357686 It's called the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), although it actually started out as the American Urological Association symptom score (AUA-7) and I imagine we've all spent a bunch of minutes sitting in the waiting room, pre-appointment, circling all those numbers on the form, in answer to those questions about
our individual urinary situations.
One of the common traditional experiences of waiting in the uro's waiting room, I guess.
The form even has its own Wikipedia article, telling us all about
its history, usage, etc.:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/international_prostate_symptom_score(Okay, so maybe this isn't the most exciting subject to post about
, but since we encounter this form all the time when meeting with our uro's, perhaps it's at least a little helpful to know something about
it).
From the Wikipedia article on it:
"Created in 1992 by the American Urological Association, it originally lacked the eighth quality of life question, hence its original name: the American Urological Association symptom score (AUA-7)."
"The IPSS was designed to be self-administered by the patient, with speed and ease in mind. Hence, it can be used in both urology clinics as well as the clinics of primary care physicians (i.e. by general practitioners) for the screening and diagnosis of BPH."
"The mnemonic "FUN WISE" can be used to remember the seven questions relating to symptoms of BPH. They are as follows: (F)requency, (U)rgency, (N)octuria, (W)eak stream, (I)ntermittency, (S)training, Sensation of incomplete (E)mptying"
" ... a meta-analysis on the subject of the influence of position (whether standing or sitting) on urodynamics (that is, on tests of how completely the bladder, sphincter and urethra store and release urine) noted that, in most cases, physicians either did not use the IPSS, or did not use it adequately."So the next time you are sitting in your uro's office circling the numbers on this form, at least you will know a llittle somehing about
the background behind it.
One more little bit of knowledge gathered along the PCa journey.