[Internal urethrotomy under direct vision. Review of 183 operations]

The authors report on their experience with the Sachse urethrotomy procedure performed in 125 patients from 1981-1987, with a minimum follow-up of 12 months and a maximum of 6 years. The etiology was iatrogenic in 46%, trauma in 25%, and inflammatory in 33%. Stricture was frequently localized in the bulbous urethra (63%). Local anesthesia was the most widely used particularly during the latter stage of this period. The authors prefer to use Sylastic-type catheters left indwelling for a short period of time. Their recurrence rate was 15%. Although most of the patients (67%) required one procedure, urethrotomy had to be repeated up to three times (3%) in several patients. Good results were achieved in 57%, fair in 32%, and poor in 11%.