[Internal urethrotomy, a modern method in the treatment of urethral strictures]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the internal urethrotomy in the treatment of urethral strictures, by the retrospective analysis of 54 cases. The patients' age ranged between 18-92. 35 patients (64.8%) had iatrogenic strictures and 10 (18.5%) had traumatic ones. 35 patients presented with urinary infections before the procedure. Following internal urethrotomy, the medium hospital stay was 3.15 days. There were only 7 patients with postoperative fever and no death was recorded. The follow-up period was between 1-12 months with a medium of 9 months and only 2 patients required recurrent internal urethrotomy. Out of the 54 patients, 8 had recurrent urethral stricture disease and 6 of them had posttraumatic membranous urethral strictures. Optical internal urethrotomy appears to be the ideal therapeutic method of urethral strictures, because it has a low morbidity, it is safe to perform and the postoperative results are good. The hospitalization and the recovery periods are short, allowing a quick socio-professional reintegration. Most of the recurrencies occur with posttraumatic strictures.