Recurrence of urethral stricture after single internal urethrotomy

Recurrence of urethral stricture after single internal urethrotomy was investigated in 66 patients with special reference to some factors which would influence restricturing. In the present study, recurrence rate was 16.7% (11 patients). Recurrences occurred within an average of 11.9 months. Factors that had no influence on restricturing were age, aetiology, site of the stricture and duration of indwelling catheterization. On the other hand, stricture length appeared to influence the outcome (chi 2, p < 0.001). Short stricture (< or = 10 mm) showed only 4.4% recurrence rate, while 42.9% in long stricture (> 10 mm). Internal urethrotomy appeared to be effective particularly when the stricture was short, while it seemed difficult to treat long strictures by single internal urethrotomy.