Dr. Manint Usawa, Dr. Thomas Chi and their colleagues from the UCSF Departments of Urology recently published a case-cohort study comparing two groups of patients undergoing flexible ureteroscopy for upper urinary tract pathology. The first group (115 patients) underwent surgery utilizing a disposable ureteroscope called LithoVue, and the second group (65 patients) used reusable fiber-optic flexible ureteroscopes.

The research team found that LithoVue can reduce procedure time for over 10 minutes while preserving excellent clinical outcomes (54.1+/- 25.7 minutes compared with 64.5+/-37.0 minutes). Scope failure occurred in 4.4% of LithoVue cases and 7.7% of reusable cases, which were not statistically significant. This data suggest that LithoVue represents a feasible safe alternative to reusable flexible ureteroscopes. Compared with the reusable fiber-optic flexible ureteroscope, LithoVue use was associated with a shorter procedure and overall operating room duration. However, these findings warrant further investigation.     

A Prospective Case-Control Study Comparing LithoVue, a Single-Use, Flexible Disposable Ureteroscope, with Flexible, Reusable Fiber-Optic Ureteroscopes. Usawachintachit M, Isaacson DS, Taguchi K, Tzou DT, Hsi RS, Sherer BA, Stoller ML, Chi T.  J Endourol. 2017 Mar 13. doi: 10.1089/end.2017.0027.   Read more...