The outcomes of three buccal mucosal graft urethroplasty techniques in women with urethral stricture disease

Abstract

Aim The purpose of this paper is to present the outcomes of three buccal mucosal graft (BMG) urethroplasty techniques in female patients with urethral strictures. Methods We included all patients who had BMG urethroplasty for female urethral strictures (FUS) disease between January 2015 and June 2020. Patient age, comorbidities, stricture etiology, stricture length, the number of previous treatments, preoperative and postoperative uroflowmetry data, postvoid residual volumes, and the operation and postoperative course details were documented. Results A total of 34 patients were included in this study. There were 8 patients in vaginal-sparing inlay BMG, 12 for ventral onlay BMG, and 14 for Aybek-Zumrutbas (AZ) technique groups. The mean age of the study population was 56.1 years. The length of urethral strictures varied between one and 4.5 cm. All patients had a previous history of endoscopic treatment or dilatations. The preoperative mean maximal flow rate (Qmax) was 6.9 ml/s. The median postoperative follow-up time was 24.6 months. Twelve months after surgery, the mean Qmax was 25 (range: 14-32) ml/s. There were no significant complications in any patients. The success rates were 83.3% for ventral onlay BMG, 87.5% for vaginal-sparing, and 100% for AZ technique. Conclusions All three BMG urethroplasty techniques applied in this study had a success rate of over 80% in a median follow-up of approximately 2 years. In females, urethroplasty with BMG provided high rates of cure, and the recently described two techniques (vaginal-sparing inlay BMG, and AZ technique) showed promise in FUS treatment.