Objectives: Urethral stricture disease remains a common cause of morbidity among men. Many questions about the etiology of urethral stricture disease remains unanswered till now.
This study was done in a tertiary care center along with a review of the literature to evaluate the etiology of urethral strictures and to determine the factors that may influence possible preventive or curative strategies.
Methods: This was a retrospective and prospective study of 404 patients with urethral strictures. The case records of all these cases diagnosed as urethral stricture were analyzed to determine the possible cause of the stricture, demographic profiles, and clinical presentation. Data were entered both prospectively by a careful patient questioning and retrospectively from a detailed chart review. A subanalysis of the stricture etiology of patients aged less than 40 years vs patients aged 40 or more was done. Statistical analysis with the Fisher’s exact test was done, and a p value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: The mean age of presentation was 41.2 years (range: 3 to 81 years). Overall, the iatrogenic cause was the most common (40.6%), but stricture etiology varied with age and the stricture site.
Conclusions: The etiology of urethral strictures is not uniform across the world. The iatrogenic and idiopathic strictures are surprisingly common. Avoiding unnecessary urethral catheterization and repeated urethral instrumentation can reduce iatrogenic strictures.
KEYWORDS: Aetiology, site, stricture, urethra
CORRESPONDENCE: Jitendra Pratap Singh, MS, Department of Urology, Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India ( )
CITATION: UroToday Int J. 2013 February;6(1):art 5.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3834/uij.1944-5784.2013.02.05
