Prostatic urethra dilatation catheter system and method

A method of intra-operatively dilating the prostatic urethra with an instrument including a hollow ctheter including a shaft having at least its distal end portion made of an optically transparent material, a substantially non-compliant, inflatable optically transparent balloon attached at the distal end portion of the catheter and sized to dilate the prostatic urethra so as to post-operatively open the latter, and at least one suitable visible marking disposed on the distal end portion of said catheter at a location which when viewed intralumenally transversely through said shaft relative to a predetermined anatomical landmark properly position said balloon relative to the prostatic urethra prior to and during the dilation of the prostatic urethra with said balloon;

• ad optical viewing means, adapted to slide in said shaft, for visibly viewing the interior of the prostatic urethra in a transverse direction through the distal end portion, said method comprising the steps of:
• inserting said catheter so that said balloon is positioned in the proximity of said prostatic urethra;
• moving said optical viewing means through said shaft to a position so as to view said anatomical landmark in a transverse direction through said distal end portion;
• moving said catheter to the extent necessary so as to position sad marking at said anatomical landmark;
• inflating said balloon for the time period necessary to intra-operatively dilate said prostatic urethra while monitoring the position of said marking relative to said anatomical landmark with said optical viewing means;
• and
• deflating said balloon and withdrawing said catheter and viewing means from the urethra.