[Urethral stricture in women].

UNLABELLED: To perform a bibliographic review on female urethra stenosis, following the criteria for evidence based medicine.

METHODS

We performed a PubMed Search with the following keywords; "female urethral stricture ","women urethral stricture","female urethral reconstruction "and " female urethral stricture treatment ",without time limits, both in English and Spanish languages.

RESULTS

Female urethra stenosis is a rare pathology, in which the working diagnosis is essential, as much as detailed physical examination, urodynamic study and radiological tests. We found in the literature a total of 73 cases treated with dilation with or without maintenance self catheterization, 120 cases treated with meatotomy, 65 cases treated by flap urethroplasty (46 with vaginal flap, 17 with vestibular flap and 12 with labia minora graft and 28 with oral mucosa grafts). There are not comparative studies between the various techniques, making it difficult to set up a therapeutic algorithm.

CONCLUSIONS

The surgical treatment with flaps/grafts has the highest success rate; whereas less invasive procedures such as urethrotomy/meatotomy/dilations/self-catheterization should be reserved for short female urethra stenosis or women with high comorbidity.