One-stage dorsal inlay oral mucosa graft urethroplasty for anterior urethral stricture

BACKGROUND Anterior urethral stricture remains a great challenge. We reported our clinical technique and results by using inlay dorsal buccal mucosal graft urethroplasty for repair of anterior urethral stricture. METHODS From January 2005 to July 2008, 87 male patients (range from 9 to 72 years old) with anterior urethral stricture have been treated by one-stage dorsal inlay oral mucosal graft (OMG) urethroplasty. All patients gave written informed consent for their participation. All patients showed that urethral plate had been either scarred or removed previously. In our surgery, the urethra was dissected dorsally and scar of the urethral plate was removed. The remnant urethral plate was split at midline and a buccal mucosa patch was inserted between the two parts. Neourethra was tubularized and covered with dartos flap. The pre-operative assessments included clinical data, urine analysis, uroflowmetry, retrograde and voiding cystogram, urethral ultrasonography and endoscopy. Postoperatively, the flow rate and void residual volume were analyzed by uroflowmetry and sonography. Any further instrumentation to assist voiding was considered as failure. RESULTS After 12 to 48 months (mean: 25.8 months), 78 patients (89.66%) have shown good results by the one-stage urethroplasty. However, 9 patients (10.3%) required further treatment due to recurrence, while 6 patients (6.9%) had fistula. CONCLUSIONS This one-stage dorsal inlay approach using dorsal oral mucosal grafts is a reliable method to create a substitute urethral plate for tubularization. This approach represents a safe option for anterior urethral stricture patients especially with grossly scarred urethral plate.