What is a Cystoscopy / Flexible Cystoscopy

A cystoscopy is a telescopic inspection of the bladder and the urethra, which is the passageway that takes the urine to the outside.

It is performed either as an aid to diagnosis of lower urinary tract symptoms; or as part of a treatment plan relating to a specific condition, e.g. bladder tumour or stones.

There are two types of cystoscope (the instrument used).

• Rigid cystoscope: this is a solid straight telescope, which has been in use for many years. It is used alone with a high intensity light source and a separate channel to allow other instruments to be attached.
  
  
• Flexible cystoscope: this is more commonly used particularly for diagnosis and for the follow up of most bladder tumours. It is a fibre optic instrument that can bend easily and has a manoeuvrable tip that makes it easy to pass along the curves of the urethra.

The Operation

You may have a general anaesthetic and be completely asleep. It is quite common however, for patients to be numbed from the waist down with an injection in the back. If this is the case, you would be awake during the operation, but feel no pain. The operation takes about 40 minutes. If the cystoscopy is being done so that the Surgeon can have a thorough look in your bladder and possibly take two or three pieces of tissue from the lining of the bladder (biopsies) to see them under the microscope to help clarify the problem, you might not need a general anaesthetic or an anaesthetic injection in the back. As an alternative, the Surgeon can flush some anaesthetic jelly into your urethra (the tube that connects your bladder with you penis or the area in the front of your vagina) so that you will have only minimal discomfort when he passes the cystoscope up into you. The procedure takes 5 to 10 minutes. The cystoscope is passed through the penis or through the opening of the bladder in the front of the vagina, for a look around inside. Other instruments may be passed up the cystoscope to do the other things as needed. Finally all the equipment is taken out.