Six years of experience with retrograde biopsy of intraureteral carcinoma using the Dormia stone basket.

To confirm the cause of a small defect of the ureter and to determine preoperatively the histological grade of ureteral carcinoma a new technique of intraureteral biopsy was attempted with a Dormia stone basket. Of 8 biopsies performed on 7 patients with ureteral or pelvioureteral carcinoma only 1 failed to produce a fragment of tissue. Histological diagnosis was made in each of the 7 patients and histological grading in 5. Four patients with non-malignant defects of the lower ureter also were biopsied with this technique to ascertain the feasibility of this biopsy on minimal filling defects. In each patient a tiny piece of tissue was removed. Histological diagnosis could be made in 3 cases.