DOI: 10.36347/sasjm.2023.v09i11.009

Pages: 1178-1181

Purpose: The aim of the study was to analyze the effect of duration of catheterization on the recurrence of urethral stricture recurrence after endoscopic urethrotomy. Material and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed all patients who solely underwent endoscopic urethrotomy between January 2017 and June 2022. The effect of duration of catheterization and other clinical factors including weight, height, smoking, comorbid diseases, number, location, length and etiology of the strictures, presence of previous urethrotomies were analyzed. Results: Total of 231 patients were included in the data analyses. The locations of the strictures were bulbar urethra (76%), penile urethra (15%) and membranous urethra (9%). The etiology was mostly iatrogenic (77%). The maximum duration of catheterization was equal or less than two weeks in all patients. The mean duration of urethral catheterization was 4.5 ± 2.3 days. Thirty-nine percent of the patients had a recurrence. There were no statistically significant difference in terms of stricture location and recurrence but mean time to recurrence was longer in younger ones (21.63±17,50 months vs. 13.37±13,11 months; p=0.013). The duration of catheterization was found to be significantly longer in the group with iatrogenic etiology (5.38±3.22 days vs. 4.22±1.96 days; p=0.002). Conclusions: Endoscopic urethrotomy is still far away from being a definitive treatment with a higher recurrence rate. These rates seem to increase with elder age. Also, the surgeons have a tendency to lengthen the duration of urethral catheterization in iatrogenic ones.