Virtual endoscopy: Navigation within pelvicaliceal system

To evaluate the use of virtual endoscopy (VE) for the investigation of the pelvicaliceal unit and the depiction of its anatomic deformities. Two study groups were prospectively enrolled in our protocol: ten patients with nonurologic pathologies, and thus without any known deformity of the pelvicaliceal unit (group A), and five patients with caliceal obstruction (group B). Virtual endoscopy represented a non-invasive technique providing amplification of the image in three-dimensional space. Virtual endoscopy was feasible in all patients, and in all cases succeeded in demonstrating the threedimensional morphology of the region of interest. The entire processing time ranged from 10 to 15 minutes (mean 12.6 minutes), and the three-dimensional image could be viewed from different angles, allowing better evaluation of the collecting system and its deformities than is possible with conventional intravenous urography or percutaneous nephrostomography. Virtual endoscopy enabled the creation of endoluminal views of the renal pelvis and calices from spiral tomographic images, thereby allowing diagnostic-preoperative and postoperative evaluation of the pelvicaliceal unit.