Complications of flexible uretero-renoscopies: Prevention is better than cure

Introduction. - The aim of this article was to review the complications of flexible ureteroscopy. Materials and methods. - A review of the literature was performed via Pubmed using the keyword "Flexible Ureteroscopy." Of the 483 articles identified, and after reading all the abstracts, only series of more than 100 procedures - or reporting complications not described previously - and which made distinction between flexible and rigid ureteroscopies were selected to estimate the frequency of each complication. Results. - Complications were rare and usually minor. The most frequent intraoperative complication was the occurrence of an ureteral injury, most often related to the insertion of an ureteral access sheath. The main postoperative complications were fever, pain or hematuria most often resolved under medical treatment. The only long-term complication was ureteral stenosis. Conclusion. - The complications of flexible ureteroscopy are rare and usually minor. (C) 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.