The most common complication of the open urethral stricture operation was stricture recurrence. Even though a very discreet band like strictures will be effectively treated with a simple cut or incision, failed repairs were usually very troublesome as succeeding re-do repairs were very complex, & the reconstructive surgical treatment options were usually limited.
CAUSES:
It needs to be emphasized that the success of the open urethroplasty was very dependent on the surgical treatment & the expertise of the doctor. When urethral operation was not properly done, early recurrence of the stricture was very common barrier.
TREATMENT:
The major difficulty in treating the urethral strictures were that they will have the tendency to recur, & the likelihood of the recurrence relates very much to the kind of the treatment used to eliminate the problem. Urethral dilation was the easiest & simplest way to treat the stricture. Here, the stricture was stretched to a larger size, & this can usually be done. The problem was that the stricture will be recur to some degree about 80% of the time & thus dilation were commonly leads to repeat dilations.
Because of the fact that the dilation have such a high recurrence rate, & that every dilation tends to lead to the longer stricture, at USW advocate incising the stricture by performed under the anesthesia. This was a simple, outpatient method where the scar was cut with the hope then that healthy tissue will be fill in the incision. Patient needs to wear a catheter for a day or 2 days at home, but the risk of recurrence was less than the dilation at 30-50%.
The main definitive way to treat the urethral strictures was with the surgery. Here, the diseased urethra will be reconstructed with a healthy tissue like as penile skin or the lining of cheek. This will be much more involved than the dilation or incision, & may require a short stay in the hospital & catheterization for at least one week. Even though, urethral reconstruction was far more perfect than the other options described above. Recurrence rate was characteristically less than 10%.
