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Abstract

The positive comments by Dr. Mark Plante are greatly appreciated. As instruments designed to translate subjective symptoms (qualitative data) into objective numbers (quantitative data) suitable for statistical analysis, the AUA-SS or IPSS remains an indispensable component of clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of treatment for men with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). In daily practice, these scores are extremely useful for evaluating the symptomatic response to various forms of therapy. However, their reliability is dependent on the educational level and intelligence of the patient, and on validated translations for those who are not proficient in English. CommentUrologyVol. 78Issue 1PreviewThis paper's authors have undertaken to establish, and have largely succeeded in establishing, the potential utility of a new visual prostate symptom score. Building on a prior analog scale assessing the force of urinary stream as well as incorporating a quality-of-life assessment similar to the Wong Baker Faces Pain scale, a scale often cited in the literature, serves to lend further credence to the concept. Overall, with a sample population considered small by many standards, the authors demonstrate that the Visual Prostate Symptom Score (VPSS) does in fact correlate with the IPSS as well as objective measure of urinary flow rate. Full-Text PDF