[Prognosis disclosure]

Doctors usually prefer telling the patients diagnosis and therapy than prognosis. Prognostication in fact means foretelling the future, while clinical interventions are scientifical clinical facts. Doctors are accustomed to speak about future only in probabilistic, statistical ways, while the patients ask about their own specific future; so the communication often can become very hard. The prognosis has to do with patient's quality of life, not only with natural history of disease; therefore it is important to establish with the patient a partnership: prognosis must be in fact a common building. A correct prognosis is necessary in informed consent: the outcome of medical intervention must be presented to patients in terms of effects on future quality of life. Prognosis is a very important relational tool: so communication and counselling skills are necessary in medical profession.