A preliminary clinical study of endoscopic minimally-invasive surgery in urethral stricture complicated with false passage

The aim of this study was to explore the clinical effect of endoscopic minimal invasive surgery on posterior urethral stricture with false passage. Twenty-one patients suffering from posterior urethral stricture with false passage were involved in the study. All the patients received pre-operative urethrography and flexible cystoscopy to make sure that the distance between the blind end of the proximal normal urethra and the distal urethra was <1 cm. Ten patients received open operation and eleven patients underwent endoscopic minimally-invasive surgery. All the patients in both groups had their catheters removed 4 weeks after operations, and improvements in urination and incontinence were observed. Urethrography was performed and urine flow rate was measured 1 month after catheter removal. In the open-operation group, nine patients showed unobstructed urinary tracts in the urethrography, and one, after his catheter removal, experienced dysuresia, which was improved after urethral dilatation. In the minimally-invasive operation group, nine patients showed patent urinary tracts in the urethrography, and two experienced post-operation dysuresia, of whom, open-operation treatment and urethral dilatation were performed respectively. In the minimally-invasive operation group, the average urine flow rate was significantly increased. Patients in both groups obtained obvious improvement in post-operation urinary incontinence, and there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in urine flow rate and index for urinary incontinence. Endoscopic minimally-invasive operation had similar effects to open operation in treatment of posterior urethra stricture with <1 cm in length and false passage.