Critical analysis of urethroplasty for male anterior urethral stricture: a single-center experience.

PURPOSE: Urethroplasty is the most effective treatment method for anterior urethral strictures, which constitute an important health concern for males. This study aims to investigate factors that may predict treatment failure following urethroplasty for anterior urethral strictures and evaluate outcomes of different urethroplasty techniques.

METHODS

This retrospective study utilized univariate and multivariate analyses to identify factors affecting treatment success following different urethroplasty techniques performed by a single surgeon on male patients with anterior urethral strictures. Surgical outcomes of different urethroplasty techniques were evaluated individually.

RESULTS

Urethroplasty procedures performed on 244 patients with a mean age of 54 years and a mean stricture length of 4.7 cm produced a success rate of 79.1%. Multivariate analyses identified stricture length and number of previous internal urethrotomy procedures as factors predicting urethroplasty success (HR 1.265, 95% CI 1.129-1.416, p < 0.001 and HR 1.188, 95% CI 1.038-1.361, p = 0.013, respectively). The eight surgical techniques used by the surgeon produced success rates that varied between 50% and 86.2%.

CONCLUSION

Urethroplasty can offer satisfactory outcomes for anterior urethral strictures. Accordingly, a longer stricture length and greater number of previous internal urethrotomy procedures were associated with greater risk for urethroplasty failure. Moreover, urethroplasty techniques must be selected based on multifactorial evaluation and performed at experienced centers.