PATIENT GUIDE TO CYSTOSCOPY

WHAT IS CYSTOSCOPY?

Cystoscopy is a direct look inside your bladder using a flexible instrument called a cyst scope. The flexible cystoscope has a high intensity light source and a channel through which other instruments may be passed.

HOW IS IT DONE?

A flexible cystoscope is passed along the urethra using an anesthetic that also acts as a lubricant. By maneuvering the tip of the scope, the doctor can view all the corners of the bladder. A much wider range of instruments can be passed through the channel of the scope making it easier to take biopsies, remove bladder stones or burn bladder tumors.

WHAT HAPPENS DURING CYSTOSCOPY?

You will remove your lower garments and will lie on your back on a table. A squirt of a jelly-like numbing medicine will be applied inside the opening of your urethra (at the end of the penis or the outside of the vagina). This makes it so that you will have no discomfort with the insertion of the cyst scope into your urethra. Clear fluid (saltwater) may be pumped into your bladder to expand it, so that your doctor can see the inside of the bladder clearly. You will feel some fullness from this fluid and you may feel a natural urge to urinate.

The test takes about 5 minutes and afterward you will be free to use the bathroom.

PRE-TEST INSTRUCTIONS

There is nothing that you need to do prior to cystoscopy. However, if you will require a biopsy with the cystoscopy, you will need to take an antibiotic the night before the test. No aspirin, aspirin-like products or blood thinners may be taken for one week prior to this test.