In addition to the concerns of better health, human beings have to face many complications, small and big, related to the body in their entire life. One such serious problem is the uncomfortable blockage of the urethra, which is found more in men than women.
The length of the urethra (urine tube) in men is about 20 cm, whereas in women, it is about 4 cm. The thin tube in the urethra plays an important role in passing urine out of the body.
When inflammation, injury to the groin (pelvic fracture), infection, injury to the catheter, or any injury during an operation or accident occurs, all these factors block or slow the flow of urine in this tube. The injury or fracture of the hip bone damages the urethra, and eventually, it develops into a urethral stricture disease.
The treatment of urethral stricture disease is generally available only in the big cities of the country, but especially, the leading hospital 'Medanta Superspeciality Hospital' in Indore took up the responsibility of urethroplasty a few years ago and helped patients to get rid of this problem. Recently, we have successfully treated patients of different age groups through Buccal Mucosal Graft (BMG) urethroplasty.
Commenting on the above disease and its treatment, Dr. Ravi Nagar, Associate Director and Head, Department of Urology and Kidney Transplant, Medanta Superspecialty Hospital, Indore said, “Urethroplasty is a reconstructive urological surgical procedure that involves reconstruction of urethra for the treatment of various stricture problems. The procedure is done to remove or to enlarge the narrowed part of the urethra. This disease occurs due to narrowing of the urethra in men, mainly due to catheter, injury, STD, infection or any skin disease in the urethra, etc. If the stricture is up to 2 cm, then it can be operated with telescope, but if it is more than this, treatment by urethroplasty is considered appropriate. Besides, the treatment by telescopic surgery shows a strong possibility of re-emergence of this disease, so open surgery is considered more effective. Keeping this in mind, plastic surgery is done by removing the graft of the inner skin of the oral cavity (mouth), which is applied to the contracted area. This eliminates the problem of shrinkage forever, and then it never arises in the future."
According to a research, urethroplasty is the best way to treat urethral stricture. Its success rate is more than 80%-90%. In some cases, depending on location and length of the stricture, success rates reliably exceed about 90%. In urethral stricture, there happens a scarring of the urethra, which narrows the tube that carries urine out of your body (urethra). The stricture restricts the flow of urine out of the bladder and can lead to a variety of medical problems, such as kidney failure, including urinary tract obstruction caused by inflammation or infection.
For the treatment for Urethral Stricture Disease, Medanta Superspecialty Hospital performs OIU by telescope, Open Surgery- Anastomotic Urethroplasty, Substitution Urethroplasty, Buccal Mucosal Graft Urethroplasty etc. Many patients, suffering with urethral stricture disease, were successfully operated last month, where one patient was in the young age group, the other patients were 40-45 years old and one patient was around 80 years old. This method of surgery will surely set an example for patients of all ages in and around the city and provide them a better quality of life.
