How we check facts

Health pages can be wrong in small ways that matter: a recovery time stated as a promise, a risk left out, a figure with no source. These are the rules this atlas follows to avoid that, so that you can judge how far to rely on any card.

How we choose sources

Every card lists its sources at the foot. We prefer national health services, public health agencies, patient-information pages from professional urology organizations, clinical guideline bodies, large hospital systems that publish patient education, and peer-reviewed reviews. We do not cite device-maker marketing or clinic advertising as evidence for a medical claim.

How we treat numbers

A figure goes onto a card only if an editor has opened the source and found it there, and we attribute it to the body that published it. When two sources disagree, or when a number varies by hospital or by patient, we say so or leave the number out. Where evidence is limited, small or mixed, the card says that in plain words instead of rounding it up.

How we handle medical topics

The cards describe what a procedure is, why it is generally done, how it is done in outline, what recovery generally involves and what risks named bodies list. They do not tell you to have, avoid, start or stop a treatment, and they do not interpret anyone's results. Each card ends with questions to take to your own clinician, and each states where the sources say to contact a care team promptly. We claim no clinical experience, credentials or medical review, and the cards carry no invented case stories or quotations.

How we write

We use plain words, define a technical term when it first appears, and keep every card in the same seven-part order so that comparisons are easy. The diagrams are simplified drawings made for this atlas, they are not to scale, and they are not meant to show any individual's anatomy.

Updates and corrections

Each card shows the date it was last checked. We recheck a card when a major source changes its advice or when a reader points out a problem. If you find a mistake, an out-of-date statement or a broken link, tell the editors through the contact page. A confirmed factual error is corrected on the card itself and the date changes.

Independence

The atlas is independent of any practice, company, society, agency or manufacturer, accepts no payment from any of them to feature a procedure, and sells and arranges nothing. See the about page for what the atlas is for, or start with a card such as cystoscopy to see the format in use.