Bulbar urethral stricture repair with buccal mucosa graft urethroplasty.

Abstract

Evaluation of the use of buccal mucosa graft as single-stage urethral reconstruction in an adult population with a stenosis of the bulbar urethra. In our Department between April 1996 and February 1999, 20 patients with bulbar urethra stenosis underwent single-stage urethroplasty using a buccal mucosa graft. Mean age of patients was 52 years (range 14-70). The etiology of urethral stricture was inflammation (4 cases), iatrogenic (5 cases) and idiopathic (11 cases). A ventral onlay patch (mean length 3.6 cm, range 2.5-5) was employed in all cases. During the follow-up (median 13 months, range 6-28) the overall success rate was 80%. The success rate was 75% for inflammatory strictures, 80% for iatrogenic strictures and 81% for strictures of unknown etiology. Although longer follow-up is needed, free graft urethroplasty with buccal mucosa graft represents a simple surgical option which has produced encouraging results. This is probably due to the quality of the tissue employed which at present seems to represent the first-choice solution in selected cases.