Treatments

Treatments of Urethral Stricture

Traditionally, urethral strictures were treated by dilating (enlarging) the urethra with a balloon or an incision. However, most patients had only temporary relief from this treatment. The stricture would typically recur within weeks to months. In addition, these treatment options could cause further injury to the scarred urethra, leading to worsening of the condition.

Today, surgeons focus on complete removal of the scar tissue. Although the stricture may still recur following this surgery, recurrence rates are low, and overall patient satisfaction is excellent.

Surgical Correction of Urethral Stricture

A surgery team can treat almost all strictures close to the bladder by removing the scar and reconnecting the urethra.

If your stricture is long or closer to your penis tip, you care team needs to use tissue from other parts of your body to make a urethra that’s the right size. The team may take these tissues from your penis skin.

They may also take it from the inside of your cheek, which is shown to:

• Be more successful in making part or all the urethra
• Be well tolerated by most patients

Most patients do not need to stay overnight after this procedure. The incisions are usually small, and most patients report little pain afterward.

The most bothersome part is often the catheter. However, you need to use the catheter while your urethra is healing. Care teams usually remove catheters after two to three weeks.

Medication-Coated Balloon Dilation

This minimally invasive option can treat short strictures. It uses only local or light anesthesia.

A urologist will coat (cover) a small balloon with a special medication. The medication is designed to prevent stricture scar tissue from reforming. Then, they will insert the balloon to enlarge the stricture area and put the medication on.

At experienced centers, stricture surgery has a long-term success rate of more than 95%. For the small number of repairs that are very complex, such as those involving long segments of the urethra, the success rate is about 85% to 90%.