Experience of 138 Transurethral Urethrotomy With Holmium:YAG Laser

Many valid option modalities are available for the management of urethral stricture disease (USD), such as internal urethrotomy which has the success rates of 33%–60%. The aim of this study was to assess the outcome of holmium: YAG (Ho: YAG) laser urethrotomy (HLU). One hundred thirty-eight patients with urethral stricture with the mean age of 48±3.03 years old treated by HLU from March 2011 to August 2017. The main purpose of this investigation was to evaluate mean operation time, stricture recurrence rate and post-operation Qmax and complications of transurethral HLU. The most common cause of USD was trauma in 82 (59.4%) patients. Mean laser operation time, mean hospital stay and mean postoperative duration of catheterization were 23.08 ± 9.1 minutes, 19.02 ± 10.7 hours and 10.3 ± 1.05 days respectively. The mean Qmax was 8.3 ± 2.07 mL/s before surgery and 16 ±3.1 mL/s afterward. At the end of 12 months follow-up, a total of 37 (26.8%) patients developed recurrence of the stricture. Patients with posterior, longer urethral strictures and previous history of interventions have more recurrence rate of the stricture. HLU is minimally invasive and seems to be an effective and safe management option for primary, short, urethral strictures. The hospital stay is remarkably short and complications are negligible.