Management of urethral injuries in University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital

A plea is made for diversion of urine by suprapubic cystostomy as initial treatment in clinically established urethral injury. When early retrograde urethrography is not possible this study should be done between 3 and 6 weeks after injury, when infection or extravasation of urine at the injured site might have cleared. The quality of x-ray at this time is good and helps to determine the definitive treatment of the resultant stricture, if any. Good results were achieved in 32 patients treated along these guidelines. Poor results were achieved in 13 additional patients treated initially with interlocking sounds, even though the nature of the injury could have contributed partly to the bad result.