Purpose

Subjective measures of success after urethroplasty have become increasingly valuable in postoperative monitoring. We examined patient reported satisfaction following anterior urethroplasty using objective measures as a proxy for success.

Materials and methods

Men 18 years old or older with urethral strictures undergoing urethroplasty were prospectively enrolled in a longitudinal, multi-institutional urethroplasty outcomes database. Preoperative and postoperative assessment included questionnaires to assess lower urinary tract symptoms, pain, satisfaction and sexual health. Analyses controlling for stricture recurrence (defined as the inability to traverse the reconstructed urethra with a flexible cystoscope) were performed to determine independent predictors of dissatisfaction.

Results

At a mean followup of 14 months we found a high 89.4% rate of overall postoperative satisfaction in 433 patients and a high 82.8% rate in those who would have chosen the operation again. Men with cystoscopic recurrence were more likely to report dissatisfaction (OR 4.96, 95% CI 2.07-11.90) and men reporting dissatisfaction had significantly worse uroflowmetry measures (each p <0.02). When controlling for recurrence, multivariate analysis revealed that urethra and bladder pain (OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.05-2.77 and OR 2.74, 95% CI 1.12-6.69, respectively), a postoperative decrease in sexual activity (OR 4.36, 95% CI 2.07-11.90) and persistent lower urinary tract symptoms (eg straining to urinate OR 3.23, 1.74-6.01) were independent predictors of dissatisfaction.

Conclusions

Overall satisfaction after anterior urethroplasty is high and traditional measures of surgical success strongly correlate with satisfaction. However, independently of the anatomical appearance of the reconstructed urethra, postoperative pain, sexual dysfunction and persistent lower urinary tract symptoms were predictors of patient dissatisfaction.