ReviewUrolithiasis2023
Miniaturization of flexible ureteroscopes: a comparative trend analysis of 59 flexible ureteroscopes.
Review in Urolithiasis, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy and Safety of 6.3 Fr Versus 7.5 Fr Single-Use Flexible Ureteroscopes for Upper Urinary Tract Stones: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Pooled it
- Role of pediatric ureteroscopy for large renal stones: a systematic review and meta-analysis from EAU endourology.World journal of urology · 2025Pooled it
- Mortality from ureteroscopy for kidney stone disease: systematic review of literature from the section of EAU endourology.World journal of urology · 2025Pooled it
- Pediatric Endourology Advances.Current urology reports · 2026Review
- A novel 7.5 single-use flexible ureteroscope with in-built temperature and pressure sensors: Is there a limit to reliability and safety? An in vivo experimental study.World journal of urology · 2026Article
- Use of Novel 6.3 Fr Ureteroscope in Endoscopic Combined Intrarenal Surgery (ECIRS): Comparative Experience with Conventional Ureteroscopes.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Benchtop comparison of seven ureteroscopes: evaluating physical properties and deflection with flexible and navigable suction access sheaths.BJU international · 2026Article
- Handle with care: ureteral access sheath positioning modulates intrarenal pressure-insights from an EAU endourology ex vivo study using four ureteroscope sizes.World journal of urology · 2026Article
- [Critical assessment of single-use endoscopes].Urologie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2025Review
- In-vitro deflection comparison of 3 Flexible and Navigable Suction Ureteral Access Sheaths (FANS) of 2 sizes across 7.5Fr single-use flexible ureteroscopes: an AUSET-EAU endourology collaboration.World journal of urology · 2025Article
- In vitro suction comparison of 3 flexible and navigable suction ureteral access sheaths (FANS) of 2 sizes using a 7.5Fr single-use flexible ureteroscope: an AUSET-EAU endourology collaboration.World journal of urology · 2025Article
- Role of suction in revolutionising endourology: Is it the final frontier - an overview from EAU Endourology.Central European journal of urology · 2025Article
- Being all-seeing gymnast within kidney cavity: analysis of the optical and flexibility characteristics trends of 61 flexible ureteroscopes over four decades.Urolithiasis · 2024Review
- Safety and efficacy of ureteroscopy and laser lithotripsy with a single-use 7.5Fr ureteroscope: a multicenter prospective pilot study.Central European journal of urology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 6 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The purpose of this review is to analyze the trend in miniaturization of flexible ureteroscopes over the past decades, identify the advantages and disadvantages, and determine the correlation of individual parameters with release period. Flexible ureteroscopes mentioned in the literature or those commercially available were searched. To minimize the search bias, the instruments were grouped by release date time periods of < 2000 year, 2000-2009, 2010-2019, and 2020 onwards. The final review included only those instrument models for which data on tip size, overall shaft, working length and channel size had been determined. The correlation among features investigated as well as with release period was also determined. 59 models of flexible ureteroscopes (26 fiber optic and 33 digital scopes) were included. Among the different features investigated among fiber optic endoscopes, only the sizes of the distal tip and overall shaft positively correlated with each other. In contrast to their fiber optic counterparts, a strong positive correlation was observed between tip and channel sizes, whereas negative correlation was found between channel size and overall shaft size and working length of digital scopes. Only distal tip of fiber optic flexible ureteroscopes and overall shaft of digital endoscopes were significantly reduced over their evolution. With the development of technology, there has been an improvement of flexible ureteroscopes and one of the indicators of this trend is a decrease in their size. With a definite trend towards miniaturization over the past decades, a significant correlation was observed in tip size and overall shaft for fiber optic and digital endoscopes, respectively.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.