[Substitution urethroplasty. Long term follow up results in a group of 50 patients]

To assess the results of substitution urethroplasty after a long follow-up in a group of 50 patients.

We conducted a retrospective study of patients with diagnosis of urethral stricture treated by augmentation techniques in the period 1999-2009. We included patients with penile and bulbar urethral stricture and, penile skin or oral mucosa as substitute tissue type. Urethral strictures of the meatus or fossa navicularis and posterior urethra, and other endoscopic or surgical procedures were excluded from the study.

Fifty patients were included. Penile skin was used in 26 cases and buccal mucosa in 24. The average follow-up was 108 months. Recurrence rate was 25% in the cases in which oral mucosa was used as substitute tissue and 30.7% in the penile skin group. Of the 14 cases with recurrence of the stricture, 13 (92%) did so in the first five years of follow-up. Only one case was a recurrent stricture after six years of surgery.

The recurrence of the stricture after augmentation urethroplasty occurs, in the majority of cases, in the first five years. After this period of time recurrence is very rare. Oral mucosa showed better results as substitute tissue in the urethral stricture surgery.