Management of urethral stent failure for recurrent anterior urethral strictures

Urethral stent placement for recurrent anterior urethral strictures may cause restenosis and complications.

To describe our experience with patients who had restenoses and complications following urethral stent placement for the treatment of recurrent anterior urethral strictures.

We evaluated retrospectively the records of 13 men with anterior urethral stricture who experienced restenosis and complications after stent insertion. We recorded stent position, prestent and poststent urethral procedures, restenosis location, stent-related complications, and management of stent failures.

The stent was removed en bloc with the whole strictured urethral segment or wire by wire after a ventral or a double-ventral plus dorsal-sagittal urethrotomy and stent section.

Successful outcome was defined as standard voiding, without need of any postoperative procedure, and full recovery from complications.

Four patients did not undergo surgery and the stent was left in situ. Of these patients, two required permanent suprapubic cystostomy. Nine patients underwent challenging surgical stent removal and salvage urethrostomy: After the first stage, three patients are waiting for further reconstructive steps, five elected the urethrostomy as a permanent diversion, and one completed the staged reconstruction using a buccal mucosa graft at the second stage. After surgery, seven of the nine patients (77.8%) were free of strictures and stent-related complications, while a restenosis occurred in two of the nine (22.2%) cases.

The management of urethral stent failure represents a therapeutic challenge. The stent risks converting a simple stenosis into a complex stenosis requiring a staged urethroplasty, a definitive urethrostomy, or a permanent suprapubic diversion.