Clinical Assessment of Visual Internal Urethrotomy on Obliterated and Non-obliterated Urethral Stricture

Seo, Byung Wook; Kim, Chun Il; Kim, Kwang Sae

Abstract

Visual internal urethrotomy may be a reasonable initial procedure of complete and incomplete urethral stricture before planning more extensive urethroplasty. However, it is essential to recognize its limitation because careless use can result in complications. So we have experienced 88 cases of complete and incomplete urethral stricture treated by visual internal urethrotomy. 1. In non-obliterated urethral stricture, satisfactory results were achieved in 57 of patients(78 %) after urethrotomy. Patients with more than 2cm long stricture and multiple strictures had the most unsatisfactory results ( required multiple urethrotomy). 2. In obliterated urethral stricture, 54 procedures of urethrotomy were carried out in 15 patients with complete urethral obstruction(average : 3.6times). When stricture was less than 1cm in length, good results were obtained in spite of several recurrences. However, when complete urethral stricture was more than 1cm in length, all patients failed due to recurred strictures. These results suggest that visual internal urethrotomy is a valuable initial method before urethroplasty, when stricture is less than 1cm in length in cases of complete urethral obstruction.