Reconstruction of urethra totally destroyed in labour.

Of 50 women who underwent a reconstruction procedure for a totally destroyed urethra, caused by obstructed labour, 35 were clinically cured, eight had serious stress incontinence, and six developed urethral stricture; one operation failed completely, but a repeat reconstruction was completely successful. The procedure consists of repair of the bladder fistula, followed by the construction of a new urethra; the latter is then reinforced by one gracilis muscle detached from its insertion and brought through a tunnel in the fascia of the upper thigh and the labium to be attached to the anterior lip of the cervix. Hence this method combines procedures originally suggested for other purposes by Ingelman-Sundberg and Martius.