SIU/ICUD Consultation on Urethral Strictures: Anterior Urethra – Primary Anastomosis

The management of primary and recurrent bulbar urethral stricture disease has been a source of controversy with the choice being between endoscopic urethrotomy and open urethroplasty. Further debate exists with regard to the choice of urethroplasty—either excision and primary anastomosis (EPA) or augmentation with a graft or flap. Using PubMed, a 35-year literature search was conducted (1975-2010) for peer-reviewed articles on bulbar strictures treated using EPA. Exclusions included articles with <10 patients, duplications, reviews, or in which the cohort was mixed and the data could not be separately analyzed. Seventeen articles fulfilled the criteria with a total of 1234 patients. Overall success was 93.8%. Reported complications were <5%, and there was no evidence of persistent loss of sexual function. The authors conclude that EPA is associated with a high success rate with low complication rate. Our recommendation is that it should be performed in patients with short isolated bulbar strictures, when expected success rates of other procedures are <90%.