[Urethral stricture]. / Urethrastriktur.

ABSTRACT

The incidence of urethral stricture has increased since the introduction of gonorrhoea to Europe in the 15th century. Nowadays, transurethral instrumentations and catheterisations are responsible for the majority of the urethral strictures. The mechanism is inflammatory or traumatic lesion of the urethral epithelium causing extravasation of urine and fibrosis. The symptoms often suggest to infravesical obstruction. The diagnosis is made from the patient's history in combination with flowmetry, ante- and/or retrograde urethrography, external ultrasound examination or urethral calibration and is verified at urethroscopy. Dilatation is relatively simple but seldom curative and carries a considerable morbidity. Urethrotomy is very common but also hampered with a high rate of recurrence. A technique where urethrotomy is followed by intermittent self-catheterisation or implantation of a selfexpanding wire netting seems promising but needs further investigation. Reconstructive operations in form of a free or pedicled skin island patch, skin tube graft, endourethral free split skin graft, multistaged urethroplasty, meatoplasty and excision of prostatomebraneous stricture are followed by cure in 50-95% of the cases.