Mieke Bus

20 Chapter 2 Methods Survey An electronic survey was generated (www.surveymonkey.com ) based on recommendations in the guidelines, recent literature on novel diagnostics and expert opinion. The survey was distributed by email to all registered participants (September 30 th, 2014) of the UTUC registry study coordinated by the Clinical Research Office of the Endourological Society (CROES) and to experts in the field based on their publications. Four emails were sent containing a link to the electronic survey between October 1 th 2014 and October 24 th 2014. 15 The survey contained three demographic questions, six questions regarding patterns of practice, two questions regarding the influence of literature and nine questions regarding new diagnostic techniques. Only multiple-choice questions were used. Based on previous replies, non-ap- plicable questions were automatically omitted. Answers of responders who did not perform endoscopic treatment were also omitted. Survey Analysis Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS version 21. The Pearson chi-square test was applied on cross tables to assess distribution of numerical data between the different groups of responders. Responses on knowledge and additional benefit of new diagnostics (Yes, No, I am not familiar with this technique and I do not know) were expressed in percentages of the total response. Results In total 81 of the 112 invited individuals responded (72.3%). Overall 70 responders per- formed endoscopic treatment in UTUC patients. Demographic data are listed in table 1. Responders were mostly working in Europe (65.4%) and in University Hospitals (71.6%). Patterns in practice The majority of the responders see more than 5 new cases per year with UTUC (91%). Among the responders, the majority has experience with endoscopic treatment of UTUC. Only 5.1% of the responders refer patients for endoscopic treatment and 3.9% of the responders always perform radical nephroureterectomy. Most responders (74.3%) perform endoscopic treatment in patients with a healthy contralateral kidney (table 2). The specific setting of performed endoscopic treatment related to the type of patients and tumour characteristics was not captured by the survey.