title: Early experience with a thermo-expandable stent (memokath) for the management of recurrent urethral stricture.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To report our early experience with thermo-expandable urethral stents (Memokath) for the management of recurrent urethral stricture and to assess the efficacy of urethral stents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between March 2012 and February 2013, 13 patients with recurrent urethral stricture after several attempts with direct visual internal urethrotomy (DVIU) or failed urethroplasty underwent DVIU with thermally expandable, nickel-titanium alloy urethral stent (Memokath) insertion. Follow-up study time points were at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after stent insertion. Follow-up evaluation included uroflowmetry, retrograde urethrogram, plain radiography, and urinalysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean patient age was 47.7 years (range, 18 to 74 years). The mean urethral stricture length was 5.54 cm (range, 1 to 12 cm). There were six patients with bulbar, four patients with proximal penile, one patient with distal penile, and two patients with whole penile urethral strictures, respectively. The overall success rate was 69% (9/13) and the mean postoperative peak flow rate was 17.7 mL/s (range, 6 to 28 mL/s). Major complications occurred in four patients including one patient (7.7%) with urethrocutaneous fistula induced by the stent and three patients with urethral hyperplasia. The mean follow-up duration was 8.4 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our initial clinical experience indicates that thermo-expandable stents can be another temporary management option for recurrent urethral stricture patients who are unfit for or refuse urethroplasty. Distal or whole penile urethral stricture can be factors predicting poor results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun Su
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Daegu Fatima Hospital, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Joon Woo
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Jun Nyung
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun Tae
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Eun Sang
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Bum Soo
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: Stents; Urethral strictures