Page 221 - Clinical Manual of Small Animal Endosurgery

Chapter 7

Urethrocystoscopy

and the Female

Reproductive Tract

Philip J. Lhermette

Introduction

Urethrocystoscopy has been widely used by doctors and gynaecologists
in the human field for many years. Indeed, this was the most common
and earliest application of endoscopy in the late nineteenth and twentieth
centuries.
The female urinary and reproductive tracts are difficult to image in
their entirety, being partly encased within the bony girdle of the pelvis.
Radiography, ultrasonography, computed tomography or magnetic reso-
nance imaging may all be used, with or without contrast media, to
provide information on pathology and morphology and each has its own
merits and disadvantages. Radiography and ultrasonography are widely
used in conjunction with endoscopy as they are widely available and
provide vital information on those parts of the urinary tract not visible
from the lumen. Endoscopy provides a means to directly visualise the
female urinary and reproductive tracts, identify abnormal structures and
take biopsy samples for histological analysis. Many abnormalities can
also be treated during the examination. In veterinary medicine, this
modality has been greatly underused and provides minimally invasive
access to the whole of the lower urinary tract in the bitch for obtaining
biopsies for culture and histology and the diagnosis and treatment of
many conditions.

Clinical Manual of Small Animal Endosurgery, First Edition. Edited by Alasdair Hotston Moore and
Rosa Angela Ragni.
© 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2012 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.