CYSTOSCOPE

Typical Number in Hospital: 20

Cost Bands: 3,4

References: 4

This a telescope less than a centimetre in diameter which may be passed through the urethra for viewing inside the bladder. Extra open channels through the telescope may be used for sampling fluid in the bladder or ureters, or special manipulating instruments may be used for electrosurgery or for grasping, cutting or crushing material within the bladder or on the bladder wall. Cystoscopes are usually rigid tubes with light supplied via a fibre-optic bundle and may also convey the image to the eyepiece via a coherent fibre-optic bundle. Older types use a small electric bulb at the tip.