Urethrogram: Does Postoperative Contrast Extravasation Portend Stricture Recurrence?

OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate our hypothesis that the presence of extravasation on postoperative urethrogram is inconsequential for disease recurrence in urethroplasty postoperative follow-up. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We utilized the Trauma and Urologic Reconstructive Network of Surgeons database to assess 1691 patients who underwent urethroplasty and post-operative urethrogram. Anatomic and functional recurrence were defined as <17 Fr stricture documented at 12-month cystoscopy and need for a secondary procedure during 1 year of follow-up, respectively. Our primary outcomes were the sensitivity and positive predictive value of post-operative urethrogram for predicting anatomic and functional recurrence of urethral stricture disease. RESULTS: Among 1101 patients with cystoscopy follow-up, 54 (4.9%) had extravasation on initial postoperative urethrogram. Among those 54, 74.1% developed an anatomic recurrence vs 13% without extravasation (P <.001). Similarly, functional recurrence was 9.3% with extravasation vs 3.2 % without extravasation (P = .04). Patients with extravasation more often reported a postoperative urinary tract infection (12.9% vs 2.7%; P <.01) or wound infection (7.4% vs 2.6%; P = .04). Sensitivity of postoperative urethrogram in predicting any recurrence was 27.3%, specificity 98.7%, positive predictive value 77.8%, and negative predictive value 89.3%. Fourty-five of 54 patients with extravasation had a recurrence of some kind, equating to a 22.2% urethroplasty success rate at 1 year. CONCLUSION: Postoperative urethrogram has a high specificity but low sensitivity for anatomic and functional recurrence during short term follow-up. The positive predictive value of urinary extravasation is high: patients with extravasation incur a high risk of anatomic recurrence within 1 year and such patients may warrant increased monitoring.