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Getting ready for a cystoscopy or ureteroscopy: why, getting ready, the day of, and after

For anyone who has a cystoscopy or a ureteroscopy coming up. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK, part of the NIH) says these are common procedures performed by a urologist to look inside the urinary tract: a cystoscopy looks inside the urethra and bladder, and a ureteroscopy looks inside the ureters and kidneys. This page passes on, by name, what NIDDK says: why a urologist does it and what it can find and treat; the urine test, your medicines and allergies; the instructions you may get; numbing or anesthesia, and how long it takes; and the first day after, a stent, the risks, and when to get care right away. It builds the words to say and the questions to ask, and prints a card for the fridge.

Kidneys, bladder or urine, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for bladder infections, kidney stones, blood in the urine, bladder pain, bladder leaks, the prostate, kidney disease and bedwetting, on one list.

This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor or nurse has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 17, 2026 on NIDDK’s Cystoscopy & Ureteroscopy page (NIH) and its Spanish version, both last reviewed in July 2021 and saying the same things (two small slips: the English list of risks runs “the inability to urinate” and “swelling” together, which the Spanish lists as two, and our English follows the Spanish; the Spanish says a ureteroscopy biopsy is of tissue from the “uretra” where the English says the ureter, and our Spanish follows the English); the cards also point to NIDDK’s Kidney Stones, Hematuria (Blood in the Urine) and Bladder Infection (UTI) in Adults pages. The numbers (about 15 to 30 minutes; 1 to 4 hours after general anesthesia; problems that should not last more than 24 hours; 16 ounces of water each hour for a few hours; an antibiotic for 1 or 2 days; burning that lasts more than 2 days; a stent for a few days to a week or more) are NIDDK’s. Ours: 911 for trouble breathing, chest pain, or fainting; the emergency room if you cannot pee at all and cannot reach your team; never stopping a blood thinner or other medicine on your own, and asking the doctor who prescribed it too; asking which procedure and which kind of numbing or anesthesia, and about a ride and a longer day; mentioning a past problem with anesthesia, a numbing medicine or an x-ray dye, and a pregnancy; asking which home steps and which pain reliever suit you; the stent’s date; asking what was done and who tells you the results; the card; 988 when it is too much; health centers when money is tight; and the order of the steps. What we left out: medicine names, doses, and clinical pages for providers. This page saves nothing and loads no trackers.