Uses Of Flexible Ureterorenoscopy In Diagnosis And Treatment Of Upper Urinary Tract Diseases

Abstract

The diagnosi s and treatmen t of upper urinary tract disease have been greatl y a id ed by the development of flexible ureterosco pe . Thi s development dates back to 1964 , when Marsha ll described the initial retrograde ureteroscopic procedure with a fl exible , passi vely defl ectable 9 Fr. fiberoptic urete roscope v1a a ureterotomy created durin g open surgery .

With time several desi gn improvements were made , augmenting the usef ulness of the flex ibl e ureteroscope . Notabl e was the incorporation of a working channel , active deflection , decreased size of the indi v idu al optical fibers w i th consequent greater resol ution , better li ght , transmiss i on and expanded field of v isi on . Subsequentl y techniqu es were developed applying flexible ureteroscopes for the diagnosi s and treatment of almost all pathological conditions of the upper urinary tract. We evalu ated fl ex ibl e active l y deflectable uretero­ renoscope in 46 pat i en ts ( 50 procedu res ) . • Indi cat ions for flex i bl e acti vel y deflectable uretero­ renoscopy in clud ed laterali zing haematuria in 23 patients , upper tract fillin g defect in 1 8 , treatment and surveillance of transiti onal cell carcinoma in 5 .