Flexible ureteropyeloscopy in the diagnosis of benign essential hematuria.

Benign essential hematuria is an uncommon syndrome that constitutes a dilemma in diagnosis for the urologist. We studied 32 patients with flexible ureteropyeloscopy. Previous studies included renal arteriography, computerized tomography, ultrasound and urinary cytology. The entire intrarenal collecting system was inspected in 28 of the 32 patients and discrete lesions were found in 16. The most common finding was a hemangioma on a renal papilla in 11 patients. A discrete lesion was treated in 12 patients with successful results in 11. Nonspecific abnormalities were found in 9 patients and attempts at treatment of these lesions in 4 were unsuccessful. No lesion was found in 5 patients. Flexible ureteropyeloscopy offers a minimally invasive approach for the diagnosis of unilateral gross hematuria. Treatment of solitary small discrete lesions was highly successful.