[Inspection of the urinary tract by flexible instruments (author's transl)]

A flexible choledochoscope of 5.7 mm diameter and a bronchoscope of 4.8 mm diameter were used in 60 patients for intraoperative pyeloscopy and stone removal. Intrarenal inspection ensures that a kidney is free of stones. In a further six patients small calculi were removed via a nephrostoma or ureterostoma. Flexible urethro-cystoscopy may be indicated particularly in the intensive care patient, following trauma or surgery upon the pelvis or the hips, and in cases with coxarthrosis, following implantation of semirigid penile prostheses and for urethral stricture. A flexible endoscope of 2.3 mm may be used via a 24 Fr. cystoscope for inspection of the ureter and the upper renal calix. This procedure allowed for preoperative differential diagnosis between tumor, stone, papilla or vascular compression within the ureter or upper calix in seven patients.