Urethral syndrome: clinical results with antibiotics alone or combined with estrogen

The urethral syndrome is very frequent in women but the etiology is unknown. In all 77 patients suffering from the syndrome, endoscopy revealed characteristic lesions in the trigonal area. As unidentified bacteria may be responsible, a microbiological investigation was carried out. Wide-spectrum or specific antibiotic therapy was prescribed as required. All patients were also randomized to 2 groups to assess the efficacy of local estrogen therapy. The authors concluded that wide-spectrum antibiotic therapy with macrolide and mepartricin should be the first choice of treatment and that local administration of estrogen does not significantly enhance the benefits achieved through antibiotic therapy. A detailed microbiological investigation is necessary when symptoms persist. Overall a positive result was obtained in 75.32% of the cases (58 patients). The presence of Streptococci negatively influenced the results of specific antibiotic therapy.