title: Complications following urethral reconstructive surgery: a six year experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We present a single institutional experience over 6 years of intra and postoperative complications following urethral reconstructive surgery, and the impact of these complications on overall results.
  
  
  METHODS
  From June 2000 through May 2006, 153 consecutive urethral reconstructive procedures were performed on 128 patients by one surgeon (CMG). Complication rates were determined, and subgroups were categorized based on stricture etiology, patient age, length of stricture, location of stricture, type of repair, and presence of various co-morbid conditions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 23 of 153 cases (15%) had an intra or postoperative complication with a mean follow-up time of 28.3 months (range 3 to 74). The most common complications were related to infection (n = 9). Other complications included repair breakdown (n = 4), bleeding (n = 4), fistulae (n = 3), thromboembolic (n = 2), positioning-related (n = 2), and Foley catheter malfunction (n = 1). Complication rates for anastomotic and substitution urethroplasty were 9.1% (4/44) and 17% (19/109), respectively. The number of patients with at least one year of follow-up who had a complication and eventual stricture recurrence was 20% (4/20), while only 7.4% (7/95) of those who did not have a complication recurred (p = 0.08).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Complications following reconstructive surgery for urethral stricture disease were mostly related to infection or repair breakdown in the immediate postoperative period. It does not appear that an intra or postoperative complication following urethral reconstructive surgery impacts the chance of eventual stricture recurrence at intermediate follow-up.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Neema
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Navai
authors.forename: Bradley A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Erickson
authors.forename: Lee C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Onisuru T
authors.initials: OT
authors.lastname: Okotie
authors.forename: Chris M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007431:Intraoperative Complications; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D014525:Urethral Stricture / Q000601:surgery*; D013520:Urologic Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult