title: The role of internal urethrotomy in the prevention of urethral stricture following transurethral resection of prostate.
abstract: Urethral stricture is the commonest late complication of transurethral prostatectomy. Although internal urethrotomy is widely practised to prevent structures, there are no reports of any controlled trials of the procedure. A prospective trial of internal urethrotomy, using the Otis urethrotome, in 210 consecutive transurethral prostatectomies is presented. Patients were divided into 2 groups, those undergoing urethrotomy before TUR ("Trial group") and those undergoing TUR without urethrotomy ("Control group"), and they were followed for a minimum of 6 months. The incidence of stricture in the control group was significantly greater than in the trial group (P less than 0.01). Analysis of all other variables revealed no difference between the 2 groups and it is concluded that internal urethrotomy does prevent stricture formation and that it should be undertaken routinely before transurethral resection.
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008722:Methods; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control; D011468:Prostatectomy / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D014521:Urethra / Q000601:surgery*; D014525:Urethral Stricture / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014546:Urinary Catheterization; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000209:etiology