Dorsal onlay vaginal graft urethroplasty for female urethral stricture

INTRODUCTION: Female urethral stricture is an underdiagnosed and overlooked cause of female bladder outlet obstruction. The possible etiologies may be infection, prior dilation, difficult catheterization with subsequent fibrosis, urethral surgery, trauma, or idiopathic. We present our technique and results of dorsal onlay full thickness vaginal graft urethroplasty for female urethral stricture. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective review was performed on 16 female patients with mid-urethral stricture who underwent dorsal onlay vaginal graft urethroplasty from January 2007 to June 2011. Of these, 13 patients had previously undergone multiple Hegar dilatations, three had previous internal urethrotomies. The preoperative work up included detailed voiding history, local examination, uroflowmetry, calibration, and micturating cystourethrogram. RESULTS: All patients had mid-urethral stricture. Mean age was 47.5 years. Mean Q(max) improved from 6.2 to 27.6 ml/s. Mean residual volume decreased from 160 to 20 ml. Mean duration of follow-up was 24.5 months (6 months to 3 years). Only one patient required self-calibration for 6 months after which her stricture stabilized. None of the patient was incontinent. CONCLUSION: Dorsal vaginal onlay graft urethroplasty could be considered as an effective way to treat female urethral stricture.