According to the World Health Organisation the highest incidence of medical negligence in the developed world occurs in Australia. If you have been injured by a healthcare professional including a doctor, dentist, nurse or technician and would like to speak to a medical negligence law firm without further obligation, just use the helpline. If you have a viable compensation claim a cystoscopy medical negligence lawyer who deals exclusively in personal injury claims will speak to you. Our personal injury lawyers offer free advice and information on how best to preserve your legal right to receive compensation as a result of injuries caused by medical negligence. Merely speaking to one our our lawyers does not commit you to dealing with our lawyers nor will you receive any bill for the initial advice that you receive from us. Our cystoscopy lawyers telephone advice is given without charge and without further obligation. Do yourself justice and call our specialist personal injury law firm today.

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Cystoscopy - Medical Negligence

A cystoscopy is a urologic test in which the urologist inserts a tube with a light at the end of it into the bladder. The instrument used for this procedure is called a cystoscope. The cystoscope is helpful because it can evaluate the inside of the bladder and urethra. These are body areas that don’t otherwise reveal themselves in an x-ray procedure. In some cases, tools are passed up through the cystoscope in order to take biopsies of suspicious areas within the bladder. Bladder stones or growths within the bladder can be taken to the outside of the body using surgical instruments.

The purpose of a cystoscopy can be to do the following:

• To find out why the bladder is bleeding, also called haematuria.
• To find out why urination is so painful.
• To locate the reason behind urinary incontinence, frequency or hesitancy.
• To find out why there are so many bladder infections.
• To have bladder infections that do not heal.
• To find out why there is blockage of the urethra.
• To find out or get rid of kidney or urethral stones.
• To remove a sample of tissue for biopsy.
• To remove urinary foreign bodies.
• To place ureteral stents in so that urine flows from the kidney.
• To treat bleeding inside the urethra or bladder.
• To inject dye into the bladder for use as an IV contrast dye.

If you’re having a cystoscopy, you should tell the doctor if you have any particular allergies, have a bleeding problem, are on a blood thinning medication or if you might be pregnant.

The cystoscopy may be done under spinal anaesthesia, local anaesthesia or general anaesthesia. Your doctor will tell you which type of anesthesia you will have. In rare situations, you will stay overnight at the hospital, especially if there is a chance of bleeding.

Find out if you need to stop drinking and eating, and when you need to do these things before surgery. Make sure someone can give you a ride home following the procedure.

Risk

While most doctors consider the cystoscopy to be a safe test, there are some risks, especially if you have general anaesthesia. You can get an allergy or reaction to the general anaesthesia and a spinal anaesthesia can lead to leg paralysis or numbness. It can also lead to a temporary headache.

A common side effect is that you can have temporary swelling of the exit to the bladder, the urethra. Urination can be very difficult and you can have urethral pain. Sometimes a catheter is placed into the urethra in order to allow the bladder to drain as the urethra settles down. Bleeding can happen immediately after the catheterization or some hours later, depending on what was done. Bleeding is said to stop on its own most of the time but may need to be surgically stopped in some cases.

A mild infection is possible after the catheterisation. You will experience burning on urination and frequency of urination. Infection can spread to involve a blood-borne infection called urosepsis.

There can be a puncture of the bladder or urethra by the catheter used in the catheterisation. It can be burned through during cauterization.

Following the test, frequent urination is common as is burning after urination. This often lasts one to two days. If you drink plenty of fluids, these symptoms will dissipate faster and you will have a lesser chance of having a urinary tract infection. Expect pink-tinged urine for a few days following the cystoscopy, particularly if you had a biopsy performed.

Call the doctor if you have red urine with blood clots in it, if you have fever, chills or flank pain after the procedure and if you can’t urinate after eight hours post-surgery. Main symptoms to watch out for include pain on urination, burning pain in the urethra, an urge to void frequently, passing only a small amount each time, leakage of urine or heavy feelings in the lower abdomen.