Table 2.

 ACA outcomes and outcome probabilities (frequencies out of 100 patients)

Outcome	Explanation	Outcome probabilities (from best to worst)
Probability of 5‐year survival (all patients)	This is the probability that the patient is still alive 5 years after the disease was detected. A 5‐year survival of 50% means that after 5 years, 50 out of 100 patients are still alive. The other 50 people may have died due to the recurrence of the disease, but may as well have died from other causes such as a heart attack	70	66	65	–
Probability of 5‐year local control1 (all patients)	This is the probability that the tumour does not recur at the site that was operated on. If the tumour does recur at that site, it causes a lot of pain. It may in some instances be possible to treat it, but in others not. Often the prognosis is uncertain	99	94	89	–
Probability of faecal incontinence (all patients)	Incontinence in this interview refers to incontinence for stools and means unintentionally losing stools	20	40	60	80
Probability of sexual dysfunction (men)	You may think of dysfunction with getting an erection (=erectile dysfunction) and with ejaculation, or of not being sexually active at all anymore	30	40	50	60
Probability of dissatisfaction with sexual functioning (women)	Dissatisfaction with sexuality usually results from not being able to enjoy sexual intercourse anymore because of pain or vaginal dryness	10	30	50	70

ACA, adaptive conjoint analysis.

¹The expression ‘probability of local control’ was not used but was explained as ‘probability that the tumour does not recur’.