Laparoscopic ureteroplasty with oral mucosal graft for ureteral stricture: Initial experience of eighteen patients

To investigate the feasibility and clinical efficacy of laparoscopic ureteroplasty with oral mucosal graft for ureteral stricture and describe the initial experience of eighteen operations.

A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of 18 patients who underwent laparoscopic ureteroplasty with oral mucosal graft for long segment or complex ureteral stricture admitted to the Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from July 2018 to June 2021. After the stricture ureter segment was freed during the operation, the ureteral stenosis segment was longitudinally cut. The required oral mucosa is removed according to the length of the stenosis. Oral mucosal grafts were harvested and placed in the ureter as an anterior onlay with omental wrapping.

Ureteral repair was performed laparoscopically in all cases, with no conversion to open surgery and no serious complications. The median length of ureteral stenosis was 3 cm (range, 2-7 cm), the mean operative time was 205.8 ± 33.4 min, indwelling time of the drainage tube was 4.9 ± 1.6 days, and the median length of postoperative stay was 7 days (range, 4-14 days). The double J tube was removed three to six weeks postoperatively. One of the eighteen patients had restenosis after surgery, and the other patients showed no deterioration of the severity of the obstructive uropathy after follow-up imaging examination.

Laparosopic ureteroplasty with oral mucosal graft is a simple, safe and efficient option for the treatment of ureteral stricture. Although the results of the initial experience are encouraging, a large cohort study with longer follow-up period is need to be done.