Factors Predicting Urethral Stricture Recurrence after Dorsal Onlay Augmented, Buccal Mucosal Graft Urethroplasty

Abstract

Introduction: This study was carried out to identify the predictors of urethral stricture recurrence after dorsal onlay buccal mucosal graft (BMG) urethroplasty. Materials and Methods: The medical records of patients with anterior urethral stricture who underwent dorsal onlay BMG urethroplasty at a single tertiary medical center during the period from March 2010 to January 2018 were reviewed. Only patients with ≥2-year follow-up were included. Data regarding patient demographics, clinical characteristics, stricture characteristics, postoperative course, and adverse events were recorded. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to assess the recurrence-free survival and likelihood of stricture recurrence. Cox regression analysis was used to identify potential independent predictors of stricture recurrence. Results: This study included 266 patients with a mean age of 37.71 years and a mean follow-up period of 49.77 months. From the overall study cohort, 34 (12.8%) reported stricture recurrence and 232 (87.2%) were not. The mean recurrence-free time was 79.93 months and mean time to recurrence was 21.59 months. On multivariate analysis, obesity (hazard ratio (HR): 6.02; 95% conference interval (CI): 1.91, 19.03: p = 0.002), inflammatory aetiology (HR: 9.13; 95% CI: 3.50, 23.81; p < 0.001), prior urethroplasty (HR: 8.81; 95% CI: 3.26, 23.86; p < 0.001), penile stricture location (HR: 3.09; 95% CI: 1.10, 8.71; p = 0.033), and stricture length >4.5 cm (HR: 6.83; 95% CI: 1.69, 27.62; p = 0.007) were the significant independent predictors of stricture recurrence. Conclusions: Dorsal onlay BMG urethroplasty has a reasonable recurrence-free rate with acceptable postoperative complications. Obesity, inflammatory etiology, prior urethroplasty, penile stricture location, and longer stricture were the factors associated with urethral stricture recurrence.