The part of the urethra that passes through the prostate is usually bent. As I said, I’m only guessing, but I think by angling the penis down and pushing the prostate forward from behind, it should make it less of a sharp angle for the scope to pass through, therefore reducing pain and risk of urethral injury.

I assume you were making a joke, but just in case you weren’t, it is not.

No, it doesn’t. The surgeons I work with don’t do prostate manipulation when they insert the scopes, but my guess is that it’s a way to straighten out the urethra to assist with scope insertion in awake or lightly sedated patients (with local anaesthesia).

Update: I ran into an actual urologist in the change room and showed him the diagram. He said the only time he would apply pressure like that is to improve the position of the prostate during a prostate resection, but not just to do a cystoscopy. I asked if this was more common during direct vision cystoscopy (using your eye to see down the scope rather than a camera unit as we do now), and he said he didn’t think so but wasn’t sure. This guy is not that far off retirement, so he’s been around long enough to remember a lot of advances in technique and technology. I think this diagram belongs in a museum.

Cystoscopy

Yeah, makes sense.

Why swim when you can walk, I always say…

With extra phase changes?

Is that an African Quetzalcoatlus, or a European one? I assume they would grip the Ankylosaurus by the husk.