Dorsolateral onlay urethroplasty for long segment anterior urethral stricture: outcome of a new technique

Conventional dorsal onlay urethroplasty requires circumferential mobilization of the urethra which might cause ischemia of the urethra. The present study was conducted to determine the feasibility and short-term outcomes of applying dorsolateral free graft to treat anterior urethral stricture by unilateral urethral mobilization approach. This hospital based prospective interventional study was conducted in the Department of Urology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, from July, 2009 to December, 2010. Total 30 patients with long-segment anterior urethral strictures were selected and treated by a dorsolateral free buccal mucosa graft. The test statistics used to analyse the data were Chi-square (chi2) test and Student's t-Test. For all analytical tests, the level of significance was set at 0.05 and p < 0.05 was considered significant. After 6 months follow up results were prepared. Three (10%) patients developed wound infection. One (3.3%) patient developed urethrocutaneous fistula and one (3.3%) patient had chordee. Wound infections were treated conservatively. Twenty eight (93.3%) patients out of 30 had subjective improvement of urine flow after operation. All of these patients had postoperative Q(max) > 10 ml/sec. Postoperative Retrograde Urethrogram (RGU) of 28 (93.3%) patients was free of stricture and 2 (6.7%) patients showed stricture who had postoperative Q(max) < 10 ml/sec. Overall success rate was 93.3% at 3 to 12 months follow up. Unilateral urethral mobilization approach for dorsolateral free graft urethroplasty is feasible for long segment anterior urethral strictures with good short-term success.