<< Back to Patient Information List

Cystoscopy

The most common operation on this body system is a cystoscopy. This is a brief encounter where the surgeon looks inside the bladder. It may involve other minor procedures such as taking biopsies, cauterizing the surface of the bladder or stretching the bladder. Fine catheters may be passed up to the kidneys from inside the bladder and x-rays taken or stones removed if present.

A general anaesthetic (fully asleep) is usually given for a cystoscopy and is started with a needle in the back of the hand or in the arm. An airway tube is inserted into your throat when you are asleep. This may leave a “funny” feeling or taste in your throat for a short time after you wake up. The amount of anaesthesia given is tailored to let you be wide-awake to go home the same day.

Because the cystoscopy instruments may irritate the urethra (the tube from the bladder to the outside), passing your urine may burn or scald the first few times after the operation. There may also be a small amount of blood in the urine depending on the procedure performed.

As with all anaesthetics, it is important that you do not drive a car, operate any complicated machinery or sign legal documents for 24 hours after your operation finishes.

Trans-Urethral Resection of the Prostate (“TURP”)

This is the gents’ operation and is done where the prostate has enlarged to the point where it makes it hard to pass urine and empty your bladder fully. Your anaesthetic may be either a general or a “spinal” one. With a general anaesthetic you will, of course, be fully asleep.

A spinal anaesthetic involves the injection of local anaesthetic into the spinal fluid using a very fine needle. This temporarily numbs the body from the waist down and stops leg movements. The effect lasts several hours and gradually wears off. There is no pain from the operation while the “spinal” is working. An intravenous drip and heart and blood pressure monitoring are all started beforehand as blood pressure may decrease a little because of the “spinal”. Sedation is usually given during the operation. Very, very rarely you may develop a nasty headache after a “spinal” - the chances of this are even further minimized by lying flat (on your back or sides) until the next day.

The choice of using either general or spinal anaesthesia is made on the clinical grounds of age and overall health of the patient.

Because a “TURP” is associated with a certain amount of bleeding, a blood transfusion is occasionally required. A sample of your blood will be sent to pathology before the operation just in case a “cross-match” is needed. If you want to consider donating your own blood beforehand for self-transfusion during your operation, you should discuss this with your surgeon a long time before the planned operation date.

<< Back to Patient Information List