Our Experience of Internal Urethrotomy in the Management of Urethral Stricture

Abstract

A prospective study was conducted in the Departments of Surgery and Urology at Bahawal Victoria hospital Bahawalpur from January, 1997 to December, 1998. A total of 45 male patients with urethral stricture were included in our study. After diagnosis, internal urethrotomy was performed under general or regional anaesthesia with the Storz-Sachse cold knife optical urethrotome. The most common cause of stricture was trauma (46.67%), followed by iatrogenic cause (35.56%). The commonest site of stricture was bulbous urethra (53.33%) followed by membranous urethra (24.44%). The length of stricture was less than 1 cm in 80% cases. Most of the patients (80%) came within 5 years of development of symptoms. Good results were obtained in 53.33% of cases, acceptable in 22.22% and poor results in 24.45% of patients. Complications noted were very minor like haematuria, extravasation and fever. We conclude that internal urethrotomy is simple, safe and effective with very low morbidity especially for strictures less than 1 cm length.