Minimally invasive treatment of urethral strictures

Urethral stenosis is one of the common diseases in urology, which occurs when the urethral lumen becomes smaller due to organic lesions of the urethra, increasing the resistance and making it difficult to urinate. The main clinical manifestations of urethral stenosis include: difficulty in urination, which is related to the location, length and degree of the stenosis. Light urinary line becomes thin, urination time becomes longer, urinary line forked, heavy people urinate not line, dribbling; urethral stenosis, urinary line is very thin and urine is relatively far; posterior urethral stenosis, urinary line is weak, heavy people need to repeat the stomach with strength, urine can only be intermittent drip out. Many people did not pay attention to the beginning, in the drinking, excessive libido, cold and so on to make urination difficulties aggravated or induced acute urinary retention. Prolonged urinary inactivity can also lead to renal ureteral fluid, so that kidney function is impaired. Some people show symptoms such as frequent urination, urinary urgency, urinary pain, etc., and mucous or purulent secretions are discharged from the urethra. Some can be complicated with urethritis, cystitis, periurethritis and genital infection, and even renal ureteral infection, causing sepsis in severe cases. In acute attack of infection, generalized chills, high fever, increased white blood cells, etc.. The occurrence of urethral cellulitis, it is manifested in the perineum redness, swelling, pressure and pain, the formation of abscess can be self-piercing skin to form a urinary fistula. In other cases, urethral stricture leads to sexual dysfunction and male infertility, impaired bladder function, etc. Urethral strictures are treated in a variety of ways, including urethral dilatation, endourethral incision, endourethral incision and electrocautery or electrocautery, open urethroplasty, urethral scar excision opposite anastomosis, urethral flap repair and urethral substitution urethroplasty, laser and urethral stenting and many other treatments. Urethral stenosis traditional open surgery is more traumatic and prone to complications of erectile dysfunction; especially the posterior urethral stenosis, the anatomical level is more complex, the operation is more difficult. With the maturity of endoluminal technology and the updating and improvement of equipment, endourethral resection has become the main treatment method for urethral stenosis. Urethral endotomy can be selected from cold knife incision, electrocautery incision, laser vaporization incision and cold knife incision plus electrocautery or electrocautery. Minimally invasive treatment of urethral stricture through the body’s natural channel —- urethra for surgical operation, without incision, easy to operate, high safety, less trauma, less bleeding, faster recovery, the patient suffers less pain, and the surgical effect is satisfactory. After surgery should be retained the appropriate type of catheter, the length of retention time varies, generally 1 ~ 6 weeks, should be based on the patient’s specific situation to decide to retain the time. After removing the urinary catheter, urethral dilatation should be performed regularly according to the urination condition; for those who have curved urethra or those who have difficulty in dilatation, urethral dilatation should be performed under direct vision. Minimally invasive treatment of urethral stricture, small injury, safety, convenience, fewer complications, shorter hospitalization time, can be repeated. With the development of technology and improvement of equipment, the advantages of minimally invasive treatment of urethral stricture are more and more prominent, such as the addition of transurethral electrocautery after cold knife incision, excision of the scar of the stricture segment, or implantation of a full-layer free circumcision tube after scar excision, etc., so that the success rate of the operation reaches 85% – 93%.