Abstract
Common ureteral instruments (stone basket, ureteral catheter, balloon dilator, stent) and ureteroscopes have been equipped with a distal eye to enable them to track alongside a guidewire rather than over it, thereby enhancing the utility of the in situ guidewire for a variety of endourologic manipulations. These "guide-eyed" instruments have facilitated repetitive stone basket access past obstructions, have simplified sequential instrument placement, and have permitted simultaneous coordinated instrument placement during retrograde stone removal and stent insertion. The guide-eye feature has enhanced both the function and the access capability of common ureteral instruments.
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