[Strictures of the urethra--the etiological factors and therapeutic management]

Strictures of the urethra pose problems still disputable in the literature owing to the variety of etiological factors involved, and difficulties encountered in choosing the most adequate therapeutic approach. Ninety-six patients presenting urethral stricture are studied over a 5-year period (1991-1995). The commonest causes of stricture formation are postinflammatory (51 per cent), postoperative (34.4 per cent) and posttraumatic (14.6 per cent). The study covering 578 patients, treated by transurethral resection for other disease during the aforementioned period, shows that postoperative strictures develop in 2.6 per cent of them. In 81.2 per cent of cases the stricture involves the anterior urethra, and in 18.8 per cent--the posterior. The presence of multiple strictures is found in 27.1 per cent. Visual internal urethrotomy is the operative procedure most frequently used--in 85.4 per cent of cases. In 3.1 per cent urethroplasty with a pedicled preputial flap is performed. Recurrences are recorded in 7.3 per cent. Emphasis is laid on the direct interdependence existing between etiological factors and pathoanatomical stage having an essential practical bearing on the choice of optimal therapeutic approach.