Urethral reconstruction in a reference center in eastern Colombia

Introduction and Objectives Urethral stricture is a complex pathology of multiple etiologies, and of unknown incidence in our country. There are multiple options for the management of urethral stricture, from minimally invasive procedures, like urethral dilation or direct vision internal urethrotomy, to open surgical reconstruction using excision and primary anastomosis (EPA), or augmented urethroplasty with tissue graft. The aim of the present study is to describe the characteristics of the patients managed with urethral reconstructive surgery in a reference center in eastern Colombia. Methods Observational retrospective cohort study. Data was obtained from patients undergoing urethral reconstructive surgery at the institution from August 2013 to December 2017. All of the surgeries were performed by the same surgical team. The clinical and demographic variables were collected, and the validated urethral stricture surgery patient-reported outcome measure (USS-PROM) questionnaire was applied. Results A total of 56 patients were included in the study, 26 patients (46.4%) underwent excision and primary anastomosis (EPA), and 30 (53.6%) underwent graft urethroplasty. The average age at the time of the intervention was 53.3 years old. The most frequent etiology was trauma, and the mean length of the stenosis was 1.7 cm for the EPA group, and 3 cm for the graft urethroplasty group (p = 0.009). A history of previous surgery was found in 66% of the patients, and radiotherapy in 2 patients. The mean follow-up was of 14 months (range: 0-52 months), observing similar success rates for both techniques. Despite of the small sample size, when analyzing the Kaplan-Meier curves, we observed a tendency of a better response in the group without previous treatments and with stenosis with a length < 2 cm. The rate of postoperative complications was of 23%, with no statistical difference between the 2 groups. The USS-PROM questionnaire was applied to 29 patients, finding that 27 out of 29 respondents were satisfied with the results of the procedure, and all of them would recommend it to another person. Conclusions The results of our study show that urethral reconstruction surgery performed in an experienced center is associated with a good success rate, and that patients are satisfied with the result of the procedure.