Endoscopic treatments prior to urethroplasty: trends in management of urethral stricture disease

BACKGROUND: To determine if the number of endoscopic treatments of urethral stricture disease (USD) prior to urethroplasty has changed in the context of new AUA guidelines on management of USD. In addition to an increase in practicing reconstructive urologists and published reconstructive literature, the AUA guidelines regarding the management of male USD were presented in May 2016, advocating consideration of urethroplasty in patients with 1 prior failed endoscopic treatment. METHODS: A retrospective review of a prospectively maintained, multi-institutional urethral stricture database of high volume, geographically diverse institutions was performed from 2006 to 2017. We performed a review of relevant literature and evaluated pre-urethroplasty endoscopic treatment patterns prior to and after the AUA male stricture guideline. RESULTS: 2964 urethroplasties were reviewed in 10 institutions. There was both a decrease in the number of endoscopic treatments prior to urethroplasty in the pre-May 2016 compared to post-May 2016 cohorts both for overall urethroplasties (2.3 vs 1.6, P = 0.0012) and a gradual decrease in the number of pre-urethroplasty endoscopic treatments over the entire study period. CONCLUSION: There was a decrease in the number of endoscopic treatments of USD prior to urethroplasty in the observed period of interest. Declining endoscopic USD management is not likely to be a reflection of a solely unique influence of the guidelines as endoscopic treatment decreased over the entire study period. Further research is needed to determine if there will be a continued trend in the declining use of endoscopic treatment and elucidate the barriers to earlier urethroplasty in patients with USD.