Ureteroscopy with and without safety guide wire: should the safety wire still be mandatory?

Background And Purpose: Although the evidence is sparse, most urologists advise the insertion of a safety guide wire (SGW) alongside the ureteroscope whenever performing ureteroscopy (URS). The aim of the study was to compare the results of ureteroscopic treatment for ureteral stones at the Oslo University Hospital (OUH), where the SGW is routinely used, with the results at the Haukeland University Hospital (HUH), where the SGW is routinely omitted. The primary goal was to evaluate the success rates of passing the ureteroscope through the orifice, the ability to access the ureteral stone, and the ability to place a ureteral stent when needed after the endoscopy.

A safety guidewire influences the pushing and pulling forces needed to move the ureteroscope in the ureter: a clinical randomized, crossover study.

Background And Purpose: It is generally advised to keep a safety guidewire (SGW) in the ureter alongside the ureteroscope during endoscopy of the upper urinary tract, but little is known of how the SGW influences the forces exerted on the ureteroscope in the ureter. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the presence of an SGW during ureteroscopy (URS) in a normal clinical setting will influence the pushing and pulling forces exerted on a semirigid ureteroscope.

Patients And Methods: In a 1-year period (2010-2011), 40 patients admitted to Haukeland University Hospital for endoscopic treatment of renal pelvic stone disease were included in a clinical randomized crossover trial measuring the forces needed to move a semirigid ureteroscope during URS.

Diversity in urologists' personal preferences in the ureteroscopic management of ureteral calculi in Norway.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate diversities in Norwegian urologists' personal preferences in the endoscopic management of ureteral calculi.

Material And Methods: A questionnaire exploring different items of importance for the ureteroscopic management of ureteral calculi was sent to the 124 specialists and residents in urology at the 24 hospitals treating urolithiasis endoscopically in Norway.

Results: A total of 92 physicians answered the questionnaire (response rate 74.

Metabolic evaluation and medical management of upper urinary tract stone disease. Guidelines from the Scandinavian Cooperative Group for Urinary Stones.

A set of simple guidelines for metabolic evaluation and medical/dietary management of patients with urolithiasis is presented. The evaluation scheme is based on the documented risk factors in the Nordic area and the results of controlled clinical trials, and takes its basis in the severity of the stone disease in the individual stone patient. The initial evaluation in all patients aims at diagnosing conditions with a definitive metabolic, infectious or anatomical/functional cause of stone formation (MIAF urolithiasis).

The long-term outcome in patients with superficial transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder: a single-institutional experience.

Objective: To determine the natural history of transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the bladder, and to identify factors which place patients at lifelong risk of developing progression and dying from bladder carcinoma.

Patients And Methods: The long-term outcome was evaluated retrospectively in 231 patients with superficial bladder TCC, assessed for the first time within a 6-year period from 1981 to 1986, with a median follow-up of 108 months. Of 231 patients, 217 (94%) were initially treated by transurethral or segmental resection.