[Open plasties of the urethra after internal urethrotomy by Sachse's procedure. Evaluation in 18 patients]

Eighteen patients required repeat surgery for urethral stenosis after internal urethrotomy. A single operation had been performed in 11 cases, 7 had had two operations and 1 patient had undergone 4 consecutive internal urethrotomies. Stenosis was iatrogenic in origin in 66% of cases (urethral catheter or endoscopy). The length of the urethral stenotic complication was measured in each case, and results showed that recurrent stenosis after internal urethrotomy was longer than the initial lesion in 50% of cases. These findings provide a supplementary argument for practising a surgical urethroplasty after failure of an internal urethrotomy. An increased length of stenosis following recurrence after urethrotomy is therefore an indication for surgery and not for a repeat internal urethrotomy.