Abstract
The most popular management for upper ureteral stones is shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) because of its noninvasiveness, low morbidity, and high success rates (85–93 %). With the development of smaller caliber semirigid ureteroscopes (URSs) and the improvement of instrumentation, URS became safer and highly effective as a treatment modality for proximal ureteral stones.
Although URS has major advantages over SWL in its high success rate at a single session, it has potential intraoperative and postoperative complications, so it requires considerable skill to increase its effectiveness and decrease complications.
In this chapter, we will discuss the difficulties that are commonly encountered during the procedure including the less common, even rare, difficulties and the ways to overcome them or avoid them if possible.
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Barakat, T.S., El-Nahas, A.R., Shoma, A.M., Shokeir, A.A. (2013). Ureteroscopy for Upper Ureteral Stones: Overcoming the Difficulties of the Rigid Approach. In: Al-Kandari, A., Desai, M., Shokeir, A., Shoma, A., Smith, A. (eds) Difficult Cases in Endourology. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-083-8_22
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