Endoscopic Urethroplasty Using Small Intestinal Submucosal Patch in Cases of Recurrent Urethral Stricture: A Preliminary Study

The objective of this study was to evaluate the results of internal urethrotomy with endoscopically placed small intestinal submucosa (SIS) graft for treatment of selected cases of recurrent urethral stricture. This prospective study included 10 patients with recurrent inflammatory bulbar urethral stricture of 0.5-2 cm in length with no dense spongiofibrosis. Following the 12 o'clock visual internal urethrotomy, a prepared 12F Foley's silicon catheter with the SIS patch was introduced into the urethra over a preplaced super-stiff guidewire. The advancement of this catheter was monitored via a 15F urethroscope to enable us to put its balloon with the overlying SIS patch at the site of the urethral incision. Thereafter, the balloon was inflated with saline and the catheter was secured with a silk suture to the glans. In addition, a suprapubic cystostomy was fixed for bladder drainage. These catheters were kept in place for 2 weeks. The patients were followed up at regular intervals using uroflowmetry and ascending urethrography. At 3-month follow-up, only two cases showed mild recurrent stricture and the rest of cases had a normally patent functional urethra. The subsequent follow-up studies of all the eight successful cases for 12-18 months revealed no evidence of recurrent stricture in all of them and no more interventions were required for any of them. On the other hand, the two cases with recurrent stricture showed a satisfactory response to regular monthly urethral dilatation. Endoscopic urethroplasty using SIS patch can be considered as a minimally invasive solution for cases with recurrent, short urethral stricture that are associated with mild spongiofibrosis.