Prevention of urethral stricture recurrence using clean intermittent self-catheterization.

Objective To investigate the effect of clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) on prevention of urethral stricture recurrence after internal urethrotomy. Patients and methods Of 55 men who were randomly selected, 43 completed the investigation. Of these, 21 patients performed CIC weekly for 1 year following Sachse's operation for urethral stricture and 22 patients formed the control group after the same operation. All had an objective examination for urethral stricture every 2 months after surgery. Results Significantly fewer (P < 0.01) patients developed recurrence of urethral stricture within the first postoperative year in the CIC group (n= 4) compared with the control group (n= 15). No CIC complications were seen, and patients who completed the CIC programme considered the method fully acceptable. Conclusion Weekly CIC is a simple method of reducing the frequency of urethral stricture recurrence after internal urethrotomy.