[Quality of life after radical urologic pelvic surgery and impact of inpatient rehabilitation].

Health-related quality of life (QOL) has become a pivotal criterion for assessing quality of specific therapy for prostate and bladder cancer in urology and serves increasingly as a basis for therapeutic decisions reached by urologists and patients. To aid in comprehension, we present the development of QOL research, the accumulated knowledge, and needs for further investigations by offering a broad review of the literature. In Germany, established inpatient rehabilitation has dealt with QOL for decades, but proof of efficacy was lacking. We clearly demonstrated in a prospective study the beneficial effects on QOL achieved with a specific modular urologic inpatient rehabilitation program after radical prostatectomy within 3-4 weeks and stability of these effects over time. Inpatient rehabilitation provides the best generic and disease-specific QOL after radical urologic surgery and completes the surgeon's performance.