Diagnostic Rigid Urethrocystoscopy: Indications, Results and Pain Assessment

Abstract

Background: Over the last 50 years, endourology has revolutionized urological practices worldwide. This is not so in many urological centers in West Africa. Although, some centers have made progress in the level of urological services that they offer; many of such centers provide rigid urethrocystoscopy services. Rigid urethrocystoscopy is an endoscopic examination that explores the urethra, bladder and prostate in men. Aims: We report the indications, results and pain assessment of rigid urethrocystoscopy in our center. Patients and Methods: We carried out a retrospective, descriptive, monocentric study in our center between January 2016 and June 2018. The study included all patients who had a rigid urethrocystoscopy under local anaesthesia. We studied the following parameters: sex, age, indications for the examination, outcomes and the pain assessment. Results: Five hundred and forty-one patients were included. The sex-ratio was 1.49. The mean age was 49.47 ± 18.48 years (12 years and 91 years). Lower urinary tract symptoms (29%) and hematuria (28%) were the most common indications. The rigid urethrocystoscopy was normal in 26.8% of patients. Bladder tumors (21.2%) were the most frequent lesions. In men, prostate tumors were more common (21%) followed by bladder tumors (17.9%), while in women, bladder tumors (26.3%) were predominant followed by cystopathy lesions (12.4%).The mean Simple Verbal Scale (SVS) score was 1.25 in women and 2.1 in men. Conclusion: Rigid urethrocystoscopy was relatively well tolerated by our patients. Hematuria was the primary indication and the main etiologies were bladder and prostate tumors.