Treatment Options and Outcomes of Urethral Stricture in Dar Es Salaam,Tanzania. Have we utilized all the Options?

Background: The historical management of urethral strictures constituted regular dilations of the scar tissue but this inevitably failed for long strictures or subjected to secondary trauma, ischemia, scarring and further reduction of luminal caliber. A urethral stricture would best be managed by taking into account its etiology, site, length and caliber as well as applying the right procedure. Length, patient’s age and co morbid factors play significant roles in the choice of treatment. Therefore this study was set to document treatment options and early treatment outcomes of urethral stricture among patients seeking urological services in Dar es Salaam.
Methodology: This was a hospital based descriptive, prospective study which involved all patients presenting to urology clinics confirmed to have urethral strictures during the period of study from March 2011 to December2011.
Results: A total of 111 patients with urethral strictures were recruited into the study, all were male with age range of 10 – 97 years with a mean of 52.7. DVU was the most performed procedure accounting for 73 (65.8%) of all patients followed by primary urethroplasty at 31 (27.9%) and multistage urethroplasty at 7 (6.3%). DVU was the commonest procedure in all age groups.
Conclusions: Three treatment options of urethral stricture DVIU, primary urethroplasty, multistage urethroplasty including clean intermittent catheterization (cic) were adopted as modes of treatment of patients with urethral stricture seeking urological services at Muhimbili National hospital and Tumaini hospital in Dar es Salaam, DVIU being the commonest mode treatment. Primary urethroplasty and DVIU had better treatment outcome during the follow up of 3months.