What Is A Cystoscopy?

Cystoscopy is a procedure by which a physician can visually examine the inside of the urethra and the urinary bladder. The cystoscope is a thin lighted telescope that is passed in to your body to view the interior of the bladder; it also has thin channels on its sides by which instruments can be passed into the bladder for biopsy procedures.

The doctor will usually prescribe medications for you to take prior to the cystoscopy procedure to prevent infections and you can have local, general or spinal anesthesia depending on the depth of the cystoscopy procedure. You will also have to empty your bladder before the procedure and the urologist may fill your bladder with saline to get a better picture. Most routine cystoscopy procedures take about ten minutes but if the urologist wishes to do a biopsy then the procedure time may increase. The urologist can do a wide range of treatment procedures during cystoscopy like a transurethral resection of the prostate, removal of a urinary stones, bladder tumor resections, and cauterizations. Patients who were treated under local anesthetic are sent home the same day. But if more invasive procedures are carried out, then the patient is admitted for two days for observation. There is minimal discomfort after a cystoscopy procedure but please do inform your doctor immediately if you are experiencing severe pain, bleeding and fever.