Urethral Stricture Surgery Information
Urethral Stricture Surgery Information
Diagnosis, Therapy
A stricture is a scar that occurs in the urethra (a tube that transports urine from the bladder to the tip of the penis, or perineum in the female) that causes it to narrow. It can occur following an infection, an injury to the perineum or pelvis or following passage of an instrument along the urethra. Strictures can occur for no known reason either early in life (congenital) or at any stage and is more common in men than women.
The narrowing can effect any part of the urethra from the tip to the entrance to the bladder, but common sites are:
- penile associated with BXO or hypospadias
- bulbar urethra
Men commonly present with blood in their urine or difficulty passing urine. Assessment involves one the following:
- flow rate test
- urethrogram ( X-ray test)
- Flexible Cystoscopy (telescope examination of the bladder)
Management is initially with an operation to dilate the narrowing which will resolve the problem in 50% of patients. Those that reoccur should be considered for an operation to remove or replace the stricture called a Urethroplasty.
Urethroplasty
These are specialised operations only performed by a small number of Urological Surgeons around the country. Mrs Suzie Venn performs these operations for patients from Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, the Ile of Wight and the Channel Islands. Trained at the Institute of Urology for 2 years in Urethral Surgery with Professor Mundy, she has been practicing as a consultant for 10 years and performs approximately 40 urethroplasty operations a year. The ‘Urethral Surgeons’ have now formed into a group to improve the outcome of these operations by audit and research. Mrs Venn was one of the top 10 contributors to the database during the first year. She has also audited her own outcome data showing equivalent outcomes with published data and will be contributing to future research.
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