The usefulness of ureterorenoscopic examination in evaluation of upper tract disease

Aim: The objective of the present study was to clarify the indications, usefulness and limitations of ureterorenoscopy. Material and methods: From January 1998 to June 2004, 72 consecutive patients (48 men and 24 women) with a mean age of 66 years (range, 27-83 years) underwent ureterorenoscopy to diagnose upper urinary tract tumors (UUT). Median follow-up was 24 months (range 1-73 months). Patients were divided into four subgroups by voided urine cytology and preoperative radioaraphic findings. Group A (n = 11, 15.3%), positive voided urine cytology and positive preoperative radiographic findings; group B (n = 5 6.9%), positive cytology and negative radiographic findings; group C (n = 48, 66.7%), negative cytology and positive radiographic findings and group D (n = 8, 11.1%), frank hematuria originating from the UUT but negative cytology and negative radiographic findings. We compared the findings of ureterorenoscopic examination and biopsy with the results of retrograde pyelogyraphy and cytology of upper tract urine. For each examination, the following diagnostic indices were assessed: sensitivity, specificity positive-predictive-value (PPV) and negative-predictive-value (NPV) and accuracy. Statistical analysis was performed using McNemar's test. Results: For ureterorenoscopy, sensitivity was 94%, specificity 59%, PPV 72%, NPV 92% and accuracy 76%. For biopsy, sensitivity was 77%, specificity 100%, PPV 100%, NPV 80% and accuracy 88%. Accuracy of ureterorenoscopy tended to be superior to that of retrograde pyelography. Ureterorenoscopy was most useful in the group which consisted of 48 patients (66.7%) with negative voided urine cytology and positive preoperative radiographic findings. This group was the only group in which accuracy of ureterorenoscopic biopsy was superior to that of urine cytology, significantly (P = 0.03). Conclusion: Results indicated that ureterorenoscopy is most suitable and gives superior accuracy in patients with positive radiographic findings and negative voiding cytology. Ureterorenoscopic biopsy of the upper urinary tract would provide useful information when considering therapeutic strategies, such as nephron-sparing management.