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will have new working groups on different topics of Functional Urology, so we need young and motivated people to help us in these initiatives, that will be announced later. We have organized several webinars during this year and this will be continued. Also, we will continue to contribute to the program of the EAU Meeting. My personal wish would be to have space reserved to ESFU in national meetings around Europe. ESFU already had a space in the Hellenic Urological Society Meeting. But I would like to have a space also in congresses all around Europe to promote the interest for Functional Urology, that is sometimes a little bit limited, when compared to other important fields of Urology, like oncology, robotics, etc. I think that Functional Urology is a big part of our specialty. We have to push this field in the programs of our meetings and the ESFU is here to help the national societies to increase the awareness for Functional Urology in the different nations.
T.S.: New technologies and devices have recently entered the market of BPH management. Do you believe that they have any benefit over traditional treatment modalities?
Prof. Finazzi: We haven't yet understood what is the role of each of these treatments for our patients. We have to understand what is the best treatment for every single patient. But I think that all these technologies may help us to treat different patients. In this moment, we treat a little bit too much of our patients with drugs. We tend to use surgery at a later stage, when the prostate is bigger, when the patient is older and with more comorbidities. The earlier use of these treatments
may help us in treating better our patients at the end, with less expenses and with less side effects. But the different treatment modalities have different indications and we need to further define the exact role of each treatment. In my opinion, we need a panel of experts to discuss and evaluate the best treatment options for each patient.
F.N.: Based on your experience, how crucial is multidisciplinary care in Functional Urology in order to provide better quality of life for patients?
Prof. Finazzi: It's very important. I believe very much in multidisciplinarity. I participate in the board of the International Continence Society (ICS) and, as you know, ICS is a multidisciplinary and multiprofessional Society. So, we need the help of gynecologists for our female patients, we need the help of rehabilitation doctors for all the rehabilitation treatments, we need to work with neurologists for the neurogenic patients, etc. But we need also to work with other professions. For instance, we need the nurses. I could not imagine working without a nurse helping me to teach intermittent catheterization to our patients, to perform urodynamics and many other things. I can't imagine working without a physiotherapist helping us in the rehabilitation. So, I think that this part of Urology needs to be multidisciplinary, but also multiprofessional. This teamwork is very important. Let me say that, I was born scientifically in the Italian Society of Urodynamics and there I've learned this lesson. The Italian Urodynamics Society is a multidisciplinary and multiprofessional society, exactly like the ICS. This is my mentality. I can't imagine managing our patients in any other way.
F.N.: Continence health problems are a major health issue with significant impact on patients, national health systems, the economy, the environment and the society. In your opinion, are continence health problems receiving the necessary focus and attention they deserve nowadays?
Prof. Finazzi: No. I think that the awareness should be increased among politicians, people who are in the administration, people who take decisions, but also among our citizens. Because, sometimes incontinence is considered as something connected with aging. People think that they have to suffer from incontinence
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