Experience of 138 Transurethral Urethrotomy With Holmium: YAG Laser

Introduction: 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). methods: 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. results: 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. conclusion: 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.