[Rigid ureteroscopy. Apropos of 88 cases].

Rigid ureteroscopy has become a common tool for the diagnosis and management of several diseases of the upper urinary tract. Between April 1990 and April 1996, 92 ureteroscopy procedures were performed in 88 patients in the B Urology Department of Avicennes hospital for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. The commonest therapeutic procedure was stone manipulation (72 cases). The overall success rate was 90.8% (Distal ureter: 89.6%, mid ureter: 80%, lumbar ureter: 100%) and the complication rate was 4%. Therapeutic ureteroscopy was also used to dry ureterovaginal fistula (4 cases) and ureteral fistula with retroperitoneal urinoma (2 cases), and to remove a double J stent which had migrated into the pelvic ureter (3 cases). Diagnostic ureteroscopy was performed for 7 ureteral strictures including 3 extrinsic compressions and 4 ureteral strictures all treated with dilatations after biopsy. One false passage was observed among diagnostic ureteroscopy procedures. Rigid ureteroscopy is a minimally invasive and reliable technique for the management of ureteric calculi and for the diagnosis and treatment of other ureteric lesions.