Specialized Urethral Stricture disease

Urethra is the tube which carries the urine from the urinary bladder to outside the body. In men it is almost 15cm long and can be damaged by many diseases like trauma and infection.

When the urethra is constricted by infection it is called stricture. If the stricture occludes more than 70% of the lumen then it causes severe obstruction and the patient develops symptoms. Therefore it needs urgent care.

When a patient has a short segment obstruction less than 1cm then laser surgery provides a no cut no pain alternative. The patient needs to be on a follow up but generally they recover very well.

Whenever a longer segment of the urethra is obstructed then the best option is buccal graft augmentation. We harvest a patch of the mucosa from within the cheek of the patient and implant it to enlarge the size of the urethra. This surgery is best option for most patients with even the most complex structures.