A case series of standard surgical management of bulbo-membranous stricture

Abstract

Background: Urethral stricture is an acquired permanent narrowing of the urethra impeding the flow of urine during micturition. It is one of the oldest urological diseases, and its treatment remains a challenge for urologists. Urethral stricture disease affects about 300 per 100,000 men. Most common causes are trauma and infections in developing countries and idiopathic in developed countries. Treatment options for short bulbar urethral strictures include dilatation, direct visual internal urethrotomy and anastomotic urethroplasty. Excision and end to end anastomosis (anastomotic urethroplasty) for short bulbo-membranous urethral strictures and buccal mucosal graft gives excellent long term results with reduced recurrence rate.Methods: Sixty-three patients who had undergone anastomotic urethroplasty from 2013 to 2016 at Government Medical College and Superspeciality Hospital, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India Department of Urology were included in the study. For strictures less than 2cm, excision of stricture and anastomosis done, while for stricture more than 2cm buccal mucosal grafting done over 16 F Foleys catheter. Postoperative follow up done up to 1 year.Results: The total number of patients included is 63 and study conducted between January 2013 to December 2016. End to end urethroplasty was done in 41 patients and had mean duration of surgery of about 120 minutes, while buccal mucosal grafting was done in 22 patients. Age ranges from 14 to 78 years with highest incidence of stricture was seen after 5th decade of life, mainly due to iatrogenic causes of previous instrumentation and post TURP surgery. Strictures in younger adults are mainly as a result of trauma by fall astride injury and pelvic fractures and seen during 3rd and 4th decade of life. Most common length of stricture observed was 1-2cm in about 65.07% and mainly occurred due to post urethral procedures. Long strictures more than 2cm were mainly because of trauma in about 35%. Seven patients had recurrence in follow up, out of which 2 managed conservatively by repeated dilatation and 5 patients needed reoperation.Conclusions: The present results suggest that in patients with strictures too long to be excised and re-anastomosed a tension-free buccal mucosal graft provides better results. However, in patients with short strictures, in whom a completely tension-free anastomosis can be achieved, direct end-to-end anastomosis remains good option.