Diseases of kidney, ureter yield to fiberoptics and foreign aid
Transurethral ureterorenoscopy is being routinely used for such procedures as tumor biopsy and the removal or manipulation of kidney stones by a team of Illinois urologists.While direct visualization of the kidney promises advances in a number of ways, the technique has been used most dramatically in the successful fragmentation and removal of kidney stones without open surgery.For this, a miniaturized version of an electrohydraulic lithotriptor, a device originally devised by Russian scientists to crush rock, is employed, according to Irving M. Bush, MD, of the Center for the Study of Genitourinary Diseases, Ltd in Burlington, Ill.In his procedure, reported at the American Urological Association meeting in New York, Bush first dilates the ureter by inserting standard catheters in graduated sizes until the ureterorenoscope, usually a No. 4 F instrument, can be inserted. The scope is then