title: Urethral stricture assessment: a prospective study evaluating urethral ultrasonography and conventional radiological studies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the accuracy of urethral ultrasonography (sono-urethrography, SUG) in determining the length of anterior urethral strictures, and for predicting the degree of spongiofibrosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  In all, 52 patients with anterior urethral strictures detected on retrograde urethrography (RUG) were also examined using SUG, to assess the stricture location, length and degree of spongiofibrosis. The findings of both procedures were then compared with the operative findings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean (sd) stricture length on RUG, SUG and at surgery was 2 (0.8), 3.8 (1.4) and 3.5 (1.6) cm, respectively. The mean length on SUG was closer to that at surgery. Spongiofibrosis was detected by SUG with an overall accuracy of 42%, 56% and 83% for mild, moderate and severe degrees of fibrosis, respectively. There were no significant complications during the procedure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SUG is more accurate for evaluating the length of anterior urethral strictures than RUG, and gives additional information about spongiofibrosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India.
authors.forename: Nitin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Deepak
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dubey
authors.forename: Anil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mandhani
authors.forename: Aneesh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Srivastava
authors.forename: Rakesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kapoor
authors.forename: Anant
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D005355:Fibrosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D015588:Observer Variation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011859:Radiography; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014521:Urethra / Q000473:pathology*; D014525:Urethral Stricture / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*