Female urethral stricture: which one is stronger? Labial vs buccal graft.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: We aimed to compare labial and buccal mucosa graft methods in female urethroplasty.

METHODS

Female urethroplasty surgeries performed between March 2016 and October 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. Labial and buccal mucosa graft surgeries were listed.

RESULTS

Between March 2016 and October 2020, a total of 28 patients had graft urethroplasty surgery in our center. Fourteen had labial, 14 had buccal onlay graft urethroplasty. The pre-treatment Qmax values were 13 ml/s in the labia major onlay graft (LMOG) group and 12.5 ml/s in the buccal mucosa onlay graft (BMOG) group. The Qmax values after the treatment were remeasured at the 1st, 3rd, and 12th months. They were 20 ml/s, 24 ml/s, and 24 ml/s in the LMOG group and 23 ml/s, 25 ml/s, and 28 ml/s in the BMOG group. The operation times were 65 min (55-90) in the LMOG group; in the BMOG group, it was 70.35 min (65-90).

CONCLUSIONS

In female urethral strictures, especially in long segments and recurrent strictures, graft urethroplasty is a successful and safe method. Dorsal buccal onlay mucosal graft and labia major grafts show similar results in the early period to complications and success. In the long term, buccal onlay mucosal graft gives better results.