Urethral disease and interventional cystourethrography.

Abstract

The innovation of balloon dilatation of urethral stricture and prostatic hypertrophy is a major contribution to interventional radiology. The procedure involves minimal trauma, produces immediate relief of symptoms, and probably results in less frequent and less difficult redilatations. The sparsity of reports in the literature on this subject reflects the reluctance of urologists to refer patients for balloon dilatation of urethral strictures. Every effort must be made by the radiologist to impress the urologist with the value of this procedure, which would eliminate the production of false passages and likely reduce the recurrence rate. Initial results with this procedure are encouraging, but larger series are required and long-term follow-up is necessary for evaluation of cure rate, rate of recurrence, and possible complications.