An endoscopy (looking inside) is used in medicine to look inside the body. The endoscopy procedure uses an endoscope to examine the interior of a hollow organ or cavity of the body.
Many diseases of the urinary tract require endoscopic surgery. These include Ureteric Stones,kidney stones, ureteropelvic junction obstruction, ureteral strictures,Urethral Stricture, tumors within the kidney collecting system, ureter,Urinary Bladder and to relieve the blockage in the kidney due to various reasons.
There are two main approaches to endoscopic surgery. The first approach is from a “retrograde” fashion. This means to approach from the lower part of the urinary tract up. The patient is placed to sleep. The legs are propped up in stirrups. Using a fiberoptic scope (Cystoscope/ureteroscope) connected to a camera, the surgeon watches a television monitor as the scope is inserted into the bladder, then advanced into one of the Urinary bladder/ ureters. Often fluoroscopy, or real-time x-ray, is used to guide the course.
Depending on the disease in the Urethra, Urinary Bladder,ureter, Kidney procedures are carried out using the natural holes of the body and without making any cut externally.
The second approach is from the “antegrade”, or “percutaneous” fashion. This means approaching the kidney through the skin. Often the patient already has a tube inserted into the affected kidney during the procedure. The patient is turned onto his/her belly, exposing the back (Prone position). The Kidney is punctured from back with guidance of fluoroscopy and tract is created with serial dilatation and maintained for the procedure with a tube called amplatz . Kidneney stones are cleared through that tube after breaking down the larger stone into pieces or into sand particles with the help of Laser.