Extent of spongiofibrosis and length of strictures: Findings at sonourethrography and urethroplasty

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to diagnose urethral stricture and to determine the extent of spongiofibrosis as well as the length of stricture using sonourethrography and compare it with intraoperative findings. PATIENTS AND METHODS: It was a cross sectional observational study from September 2017-August 2018. All patients who presented with urethral stricture, scheduled for urethroplasty, and consented to the study were enrolled. The extent of spongiofibrosis and length of strictures were determined at sonourethrography and subsequently at urethroplasty. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive values of sonourethrography in the determination of length of stricture was done. Spearman correlation coefficient(r) was used to describe the association between the extent of spongiofibrosis found at sonourethrography and at urethroplasty. RESULTS: A total of 84 patients were evaluated during the study period. The median age at presentation was 45years. 81% of the patients had moderate spongiofibrosis on sonourethrography. There was a significant correlation of 71.4% between the extent of spongiofibrosis on sonourethrography and at urethroplasty. In evaluation for the length of strictures, sonourethrography had a sensitivity of 84.6% specificity of 82.7%, PPV of 68.7% and NPV 92.3%. CONCLUSION: Sonourethrography is a valuable tool in the evaluation of urethral strictures. Its radiation free readily available even in resource-poor settings and gives a good evaluation of extent of spongiofibrosis as well as the length of strictures. It's use in the preoperative evaluation of strictures may improve the outcome of the management of strictures.