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287 urethral strictures were treated between 1974 and 1984. Two-stage urethroplasty provided 47.6% of good results at 5 years, although there was a possibility of very delayed recurrences. Endoscopic urethrotomy only gave 26% of good results at 5 years, while 30% of good results were obtained after dilatation with Olbert's sound. Endourethral techniques do not compete with two-stage urethroplasty, provided they are performed repeatedly.

The authors report the results of 63 internal urethrotomies for urethral stenosis performed during a four year period. The essential sites were perineal and the most frequent aetiology iatrogenic, particularly after prostatectomy. Overall, the authors obtained 18 satisfactory results, 2 severe complications, 24 failures and 17 patients are too recent to assess or were lost from sight. A second endoscopic urethrotomy gave only very little chance of a definitive recovery. Although the results were not constantly excellent, the series studied by the authors shows that endoscopic internal urethrotomy offers the possibility by a simple technique of obtaining a certain number of durable successes whilst not interfering with the subsequent performance of other types of urethroplasty. Finally, in a certain number of cases endoscopic internal urethrotomy facilitates subsequent dilatations.

The method of treating urethral strictures described in this article is inspired from the technique for percutaneous angioplasty, using an inflatable catheter. It provides good immediate results in 80% of cases, regardless of the localization of the stricture and the previous treatment.

This is a comparative study in 183 patients of the treatment of urethral stenoses by two-stage urethroplasty, internal endoscopic urethrotomy and urethrotomy via the Olbert catheter. Urethroplasty (39 patients) was preferentially carried out in patients with moniliform stenosis greater than 2 cm long in the penile and penoscrotal urethra. There was no significant difference in the indications for the two forms of urethrotomy. Good results were obtained for the 3 techniques in about 80% of cases but there was significantly higher complication rate with surgical urethroplasty. The failure rate of the 3 techniques did not differ significantly. The cost of treatment, on the other hand, greatly differed depending on the technique. Surgical urethroplasty was 2.8 times more costly than internal endoscopic urethrotomy and 10.4 times more costly than Olbert catheter urethrotomy. Olbert catheter urethrothomy was 3.7 times cheaper than internal endoscopic urethrotomy.

The treatment of urethral strictures has considerably developed over recent years: surgical urethroplasty has been perfected at the same time as internal urethrotomy has gained a new lease of life as a result of endoscopy. Urethral dilatation by means of probes used for arterial stenoses constitutes another interesting development in this field. We reviewed our case files with a double objective in mind: to determine the reasons for our changing therapeutic practices and the results of these three methods. Our study was also interesting because it was the first time that the incidence of this therapeutic development on the economic consequences of this disease, which generally affects professionally active adults, has been assessed. Several factors can be taken into consideration: however, as the length of time off work and the cost of concomitant drug treatments were unable to be determined with sufficient accuracy by our survey, we finally assessed the duration and the number of hospital admissions for each patient. Although only fragmentary, these data appear to reflect fairly accurately the economic impact of the treatments used.

An inflatable balloon catheter of the Gruntzig type was used to dilate the urethra of 25 patients. The procedure involves atraumatic catheterization by a vascular catheter under televised urethroscopy, followed by introduction on a flexible guide of the balloon catheter which is then inflated. The stenosis is visible on the balloon and the rapidity with which it "yields" can readily be appreciated. Control of dilatation is effected by voiding urethrography. This method entails much less discomfort than conventional urethral dilatation. No complication was observed in this series. Stenosis recurred in 3 patients who subsequently underwent a second balloon dilatation.