APPLICATION OF URETHRAL STENT IN CHILDREN WITH URETHRAL STRICTURE, EARLY OUTCOMES

Background. Urethral stricture is one of the most common complications after urethroplasty. And nowadays a growing number of congenital urethral diseases is observed. It is obvious that there is a huge amount of urethroplasty needed all over the world. Material and Methods. 15 patients with urethral strictures were included in the conducted prospective research. All patients underwent a complex urology investigation consisted of uroflowmetry, urethrography and urethroscopy. Most of strictures were located in penile urethra, their length varied from 1 to 5 mm. All patients enrolled in the study had the only single stricture. After investigation internal visual urethrotomy was performed with one-time stenting using individual prepared titanium nickelide stent. Stent was in urethra for 14–21 days. It had been evacuated from urethra and uroflowmetry, urethrography and urethroscopy were performed. Results and discussion. All patients have good result of uroflowmetry in the postoperative period. The results of urethrography and urethroscopy have also showed that there were no urethral strictures. The longest follow-up has lasted for 3 years. The efficiency of treatment is 93 %. The repeated procedure was required in one case. Any complications of this way of urethral stricture’s treatment haven’t occurred. Nowadays laser urethrotomy is known to have a success rate about 84 %, but follow-up period is still rather short. And also it is estimated that 65 % of all children with direct vision urethrotomy had a recurrence of the stricture in 5 years. It is hoped that the announced way of treatment of urethral stricture will be very perspective and will help to solve such significant problem in pediatric urology as urethral stricture. Conclusions. Stenting of urethra after internal visual urethrotomy has good outcomes, and seems to be a very perspective minimally invasive way of treatment of urethral stricture.