Urethral stricture

What is a urethral stricture?

The tube in the penis that carries urine from the bladder out of the body is called the urethra.

If scar tissue forms inside this, the passage becomes narrow - a stricture - which may affect the flow of urine.

Symptoms

Although there may not be any symptoms initially, with time these do appear and tend to get progressively worse.

The stricture may cause difficulty passing urine, dribbling at the end of passing urine, a weak flow, feeling the need to urinate more often than usual or a sensation of incomplete bladder emptying.

Left untreated, the stricture may block the flow of urine totally, causing painful retention of urine. It may also precipitate urine infections because of incomplete bladder emptying. If pressure builds up, damage to the kidneys may result.

Causes and risk factors

There are many reasons why urethral scarring may occur. These include infection, such as chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis, inflammation, accidental injury and damage to the area during medical procedures such as catheterisation.

Urethral stricture is more common in men over the age of 50.

Treatment and recovery

Where possible, the stricture is widened under local anaesthesia using an instrument that's passed into the urethra to stretch the narrowing part. This is usually repeated at regular intervals.

In more severe cases, the scar tissue needs to be surgically removed.