One of the most important aspect of treating patients with ODS well is to give them an honest view of what to expect of treatment.

I often make it clear to patients that surgery [or other treatment] will improve but not totally cure their symptoms. I firmly believe that a patient expecting improvement will view a 90% improvement as success, while a patient expecting cure may be dissatisfied with a 90% improvement.

Therefore, absolute honesty is important in coneying this message to the patients. It also follows that clinicians should refuse to allow patients to have unachievable expectations, in particular to change in or cure of:

• Pelvic pain
• Disorderd Sensations
  

All of this should be adequately documented in GP letters, letters to patients and in operations consent forms, which should also include the proposed operation, potential complications, the agreed goals of treatment, failure rates and any unlikely outcomes