Endoscopic Internal Urethrotomy Outcomes in the Management of Male Urethral Strictures

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of stricture treatment using endoscopic internal urethrotomy in the male urethra. Patients and Methods: We conducted a retrospective study from 2012 to 2017 at the Urology and Andrology Department of the University Hospital in Brazzaville, Congo. Medical records of 30 patients who underwent endoscopic internal urethrotomy for urethral stricture were analyzed. We studied the following variables: frequency of urethral stricture, age of patient, onset, cause and location of urethral stricture, duration of bladder catheterization, duration of hospitalization, and postoperative complications. The treatment outcome was assessed after a follow-up of 2.6 years (extreme: 2 and 4 years). Outcomes were considered successful or good when the patients had a normal urine flow and an unobstructed urethra at the Retrograde Urethrogram (RUG). Results: The mean age was 47.5 ± 9.7 years (range: 17 to 83 years). Dysuria was the most common symptom reported. We found that urethral stricture was mostly caused by infectious diseases (20 patients). The urethral stricture was located at the membranous urethra in 4 patients, the bulbar urethra in 25 patients, and the penile urethra in 1 patient. The mean duration of the bladder catheterization was 2.3 days. Hospitalization duration was 36 hours. We observed the following complications: urethrorrhagia in 3 patients, acute orchiepididymitis. We achieved good results in 23 patients. Conclusion: In our context where the practice of endoscopic internal urethrotomy is recent, it provides satisfactory results for the treatment of short urethral male stricture.