title: Female urethral stricture: a contemporary series.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To report the etiology, presenting symptoms and outcomes of the different treatments performed in female patients with recurrent urethral stricture.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-six patients with refractory LUTS were diagnosed with a urethral stricture. The symptoms, the treatment performed and the outcomes were prospectively recorded. Sixteen patients were treated with a urethroplasty using a buccal mucosal graft (BMG) in 14 cases (54 %) and a vaginal flap in 2 (8 %). Urethral dilatation, optical urethrotomy and meatoplasty were performed in 8 (31 %), 1 (3.8 %) and 1 (3.8 %) patients, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Strictures were idiopathic in 11 patients (42 %). Previous urethral instrumentation and traumatic vaginal delivery were the commonest causes of urethral stricture (42 and 15 %, respectively). The most frequent symptoms were reduced flow (93 %), detrusor overactivity (50 %) and UTIs (42 %). The stricture was cured in 93 % of patients treated with a BMG urethroplasty and in all the patients in which a vaginal flap urethroplasty was performed. In the same group, the improvement in urethral pain was observed in the 67 and the 88 % of patients were cured from recurrent UTIs. All the patients treated with urethral dilatation needed further dilatations; hence, the cure of the stricture was achieved in none of them. Improvement in urethral pain, UTIs and detrusor activity was not recorded in the latter group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Urethroplasty in its various forms has demonstrated in the present series the highest cure rate for the treatment of recurrent urethral stricture.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University College London Hospital, London, UK. dr.marcospilotros@libero.it.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Spilotros
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University College London Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Malde
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University College London Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Solomon
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University College London Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grewal
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University College London Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Mukhtar
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University College London Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pakzad
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University College London Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hamid
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University College London Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Ockrim
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University College London Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Greenwell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D059411:Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler; D014525:Urethral Stricture / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D014563:Urodynamics; D013520:Urologic Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Buccal mucosa graft; Female; Stricture; Urethra; Urethroplasty