ABSTRACT
The results with management of urethral stricture are disappointing, with a high rate of early and late recurrence. Recently, the success of internal urethrotomy has made us question the role of open urethroplasty in the management of urethral strictures. Thus a clinical evaluation was made on 116 patients with urethral stricture in the Department of Urology, Masan Koryo General Hospital, during the period from May 1985 to July 1991. The or stricture was incomplete in 92 cases and complete in 24 cases. The length of stricture was less than 1cm in 86 cases, 1 to 2cm in 19 cases, more than 2cm in 3 cases and multiple strictures in 8 cases. The treatment modality of incomplete urethral stricture was internal urethrotomy in 68 cases and urethroplasty in 9 cases regardless of length, and dilatation in 15 cases with mild stricture. Incomplete urethral stricture, internal urethrotomy was carried out in 7 cases with less than 1cm long stricture and urethroplasty in 17 cases regardless of length. The overall success rate in incomplete urethral stricture was 88.2 % in internal urethrotomy and 88.9 % in urethroplasty, and in complete urethral stricture, 85.7 % in internal urethrotomy and 82. 4% in urethroplasty. We think that visual internal urethrotomy is a valuable initial method, when stricture is incomplete or less than 1cm in length in cases of complete urethral stricture.