Urethroplasty and Reconstructive Surgery

What is Urethroplasty?

For patients with urethral stricture disease, urethroplasty is often the treatment of choice. Urethral stricture is the build-up of scar tissue in the urethra, which blocks the flow of urine. Urethral stricture is often caused by inflammation or injury in or around the urethra.

Several types of urethroplasty procedures exist. Two examples include:

• Buccal graft urethroplasty is a procedure where the reconstructive urologist will take tissue from the skin lining inside of the mouth and transfer or graft the tissue to the urethra to create an open pathway for urine.
• Excision and Primary Anastomosis (EPA) – A procedure that cuts the bad segment of the urethra out and puts it back together without any additional grafts or flaps.

Surgical Procedures for Ureteral Injury and Congenital Conditions

In addition to urethroplasty for stricture disease, Chesapeake Urology’s reconstructive urologists perform reconstructive surgery for patients who experience ureteral injuries as well as congenital conditions, including:

• Boari flap and Psoas hitch – For ureteral injuries that are close to the bladder, the reconstructive urologist creates a flap out of the bladder (boari flap) to substitute the segment missing in the ureter, or can perform a psoas hitch, which attaches a portion of the bladder wall to the psoas muscle.
• Ileal ureteral substitution and transureteroureterostomy (TUU) are urinary diversion techniques that take a segment of the small bowel to replace portions of the ureter damaged by injury. These procedures are typically performed on large defects of the ureter.
• Laparoscopic pyeloplasty is a surgical procedure performed to correct an obstruction between the kidney and the ureter (the tube that carries urine to the bladder).