Early Outcome of the Types of Urethroplasty in a Tertiary Centre in Northern Tanzania

Abstract

Background Urethral strictures remain a major problem in the developing countries unlike in the developed world. It is prudent to establish the success rates of various methods of urethroplasty in our regional setting. Patients And Methods Patients who underwent various types of urethroplasty at the Institute of Urology at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) from February 2009 to April 2011 were involved in this hospital based descriptive, prospective, cohort study. The available options for urethroplasty were anastomotic, staged and substitution urethroplasties and were chosen on the basis of institutional protocol on site, number and length of stricture and recommended form of urethroplasty. Urethral and suprapubic catheters were left insitu and on the third post operative day, urethral catheter was spigoted. Patients stayed in the ward for seven days then discharged home for two weeks when they would come for urethral catheter removal on the 21 st postoperative day. Results One hundred and five patients underwent urethroplasty. The age ranged from 4 years to 83 years with a mean ±Standard Deviation of 45.8± 18.5 years. Eighty-four point eight percent of the strictures were in the anterior urethra. The overall success rate for urethroplasty was 88.4%. The specific success rates were 87.3% for anastomotic, 92% for staged and 93% for substitution urethroplasty. Conclusion The urethroplasty success rate in KCMC compares favorably with other tertiary centers in the world. Substitution urethroplasty has the best outcome for stricture surgery.