Urethral calculi in children

Sixty patients diagnosed to have urethral calculi in Diyarbakir State Hospital Department of Pediatric Surgery were evaluated retrospectively to determine factors influencing the clinical picture and treatment. All the patients were boys. Pain in the penis and retracting of the penis by the patient himself were most common symptoms. The patients with posterior urethral calculi had continuous urinary dribbling, and those with anterior urethral calculi had acute urinary retention. At the time of initial admittance, the calculi were posterior urethral in 10 cases, bulbous in 13, penile in 20, and external urethral meatal in 17. The 10 calculi located in the posterior urethra and four located in the bulbous urethra were manipulated retrogradely into the bladder. Forty-two calculi were extracted through the external urethral meatus. However, a calculus required urethrotomy, and other calculi required extraction trough a urethracutaneous fistula. The mode of clinical presentation and treatment in children with urinary calculi depends on localization. Localization is determined by the shape and diameter of the calculi.