Welcome to the (ICUD) International Consultation on Urological Diseases
A number of Consultation and Consensus Meetings have been organized on prostate and bladder diseases since 1981 on the basis of a voluntary collaboration from international and national urological associations. These Consultations, supported by World Health Organization WHO and the Union for International Cancer Control UICC in a non-official way, created the need for a global, official organization to foster and increase the potential to inform its worldwide network of international and national urological associations and the populations that they serve.
The International Consultation on Urological Diseases (ICUD) was established as a scientific, international,
non-profit association under Belgium law on June 28, 1994.
The main reason for its foundation was the need to create an NGO working in association with the WHO and UICC.
Principal Aim of the ICUD:
The principal aim of the ICUD is to promote the improvement in the management of urological diseases worldwide by producing evidence based recommendations. The ICUD seeks to achieve this aim by bringing together experts representing the major urological organisations world-wide into consultations that produce recommendations that are based on a transparent process which examines and analyses the available literature according to the principles of evidence-based medicine. The recommendations from each consultation must be suitable for use in all parts of the world, recognising that the health services' resources differ widely between countries. These recommendations are not intended to be used as guidelines, although the ICUD is happy for any national or regional organisation to use the ICUD consultation recommendations as part of the production of guidelines.
Objectives of the ICUD:
1. To update present knowledge and modern management of the thematic disease and assess the cost-effectiveness of various diagnostic and therapeutic options.
2. To prepare recommendations, based on the most convincing information available, for a number of selected topics.
3. To prepare, whenever possible, consensus or a widely accepted strategy concerning diagnosis and treatment according to evidence based medicine.
4. To propose standardized response criteria and define standards for clinical research in the future.
5. To propose measurement instruments for intensity and impact for various urological diseases (e.g., the IPSS)
References:
1. International Consultation on Urological Diseases (ICUD).
Moniteur Belge 1994:5405-54072. WHO Press Office. World Health Organization calls First International Consultation on Incontinence.
Geneva: WHO; 19983. International Consultation on Urological Diseases: – A Decade of Progress.
Khoury S, Cockett A, Aso Y, Chatelain C, Andersson L, Abrams P, Griffiths K, Denis L. The Prostate 45:194-199 (2000)4. Evidence-based medicine overview of the main steps for developing and grading guideline recommendations.
Abrams P, Khoury S, Grant A. Prog Urol. 2007 May; 17(3):681-4
