Abstract: PD42-06
Sources of Funding: None

Introduction

Currently there is no standardized evaluation instrument for evaluation and comparing flexible ureteroscopes for clinical or research purposes. Our goals were to test a novel evaluation instrument in order to assess the performance of flexible ureteroscopes including a new disposable digital flexible ureteroscope during clinical use._x000D_

Methods

We designed a novel evaluation instrument comprised of 9 questions designed to provide a comprehensive assessment of a flexible ureteroscope. Response options were presented as an interval scale ranging from 0 to 5 with 5 being the best response possible. We tested the instrument at our institution by administering it after routine upper tract stone cases utilizing a flexible ureteroscope. Three flexible ureteroscope categories were evaluated including: fiberoptic (Olympus URF-P5/P6), reusable digital (Storz Flex Xc), and the LithoVue disposable digital (Boston Scientific). Any urologist or trainee who used the ureteroscope during the procedure was allowed to evaluate the ureteroscope. The instrument was completed independently of each other and opinions about the ureteroscope were not discussed during the procedure. Internal consistency was assessed with Cronbach’s alpha and Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to describe the linear relationship between items. Multivariate analyses were done to assess responses.

Results

A total of 34 upper tract stone cases were performed resulting in 79 evaluations. The Storz digital scored the highest of the three ureteroscopes. The image quality was very good on the LithoVue outside the patient, but we did notice some distortion when performing laser lithotripsy that impaired vision. We found no difference in the ease of ureteral access between the ureteroscopes. The instrument demonstrated internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.85). The mean inter-item Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.46 (0.10 to 0.88), the highest of which related maneuverability to overall satisfaction (0.88). Respondents who had completed residency scored the ureteroscopes significantly lower in the areas of maneuverability, intuitiveness and overall satisfaction (P = 0.019, 0.003, and 0.046 respectively).

Conclusions

We report our results from a pilot study evaluating a novel flexible ureteroscope evaluation instrument during clinical use. All ureteroscopes performed well on our evaluation instrument during clinical use. Further validation is needed to assess the quality of this evaluation instrument._x000D_

Funding

None