[Guidelines-a European project]

Clinical guidelines represent the latest standard of medical knowledge concerning diagnostics, treatment and follow up of diseases and should support doctors and patients to choose the best treatment. Depending on the prevalence of a disease there exist less or more published data. Therefore, several levels of guidelines are possible. In case of few data the expertise of the attending physicians is of greater importance (S1, S2-guidelines). In case of a huge amount of literature, especially phase III studies or metaanalyses, a S3-guideline can be written. The article describes the process of developing a guideline in Germany under the guidance of the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF) in comparison to the process by the European Association of Urology (EAU). The aim for the future is to join resources. Another aspect of the article is to inform about different procedures how to control the implementation of the guidelines.