Basic premise of the study

“UPSTREAM is a two-arm trial randomising men with bothersome lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), for whom surgeons would consider offering surgery, between a care pathway based on urodynamic tests with invasive multichannel cystometry and a care pathway based on non-invasive tests”. 

The phrase “for whom surgeons would consider offering surgery” has caused confusion, as some centres have incorrectly taken this to mean a surgeon has already said they will offer surgery. In fact, that would be too late for UPSTREAM. 

We suggest when screening for UPSTREAM patients, you simply look for men with LUTS, excluding those with indwelling catheter/ neurological disease.

Please be reassured that a good recruitment rate is readily achievable, since male LUTS is a very common referral to urology departments, and when men are approached about UPSTREAM, they are often perfectly willing to participate. 

These guides have been created using feedback from patients and sites that are actively recruiting; they are here to help you and your team, and from a trial perspective, help ensure that core points are relayed to the patients in a consistent manner across all sites.

• Recruitment Guide
• Case scenarios
• Tips and tricks

You may wish to print the ‌Recruitment Guide (PDF, 278kB) and have it to hand when in clinic.