Endourological stone treatment Beyond the scope of guidelines

The thesis starts with a general introduction of the epidemiology of urinary tract stones and discusses the current international guidelines. This thesis focuses on the ureteroscopic treatment of stones in the urinary tract. It covers three issues with respect to endourological stone treatment and the devices that are currently employed in patients requiring ureteroscopic stone treatment.
In the first part the outcomes of ureteroscopic stone treatment for uncommon indications are evaluated. The uncommon indications discussed include impacted ureteral stones, stones in a solitary kidney, and stones in anomalous kidneys.
In the second part the durability of the modern and most frequently used flexible ureteroscopes is investigated. Furthermore this thesis reports the results of a prospective study in which the decontamination effectiveness of high-level disinfection for flexible ureteroscopes is evaluated. In part three the safety and educational value of live and semi-live surgical demonstrations for ureteroscopic stone treatment are evaluated. This thesis concludes with a general discussion and future perspectives.