The Changing Pattern of Urethral Stricture Disease in Midwestern Nigeria

Sixty-eight new patients with Urethral Stricture presented at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital Benin City, Nigeria between January 1994 and December 2003, an average of seven patients per year. Forty-two (61.9%) of these patients were aged between 21 and 50 years, 38 (55.9%) of the strictures were traumatic in origin and of these 23 (60.5%) were of the bulbomembranous type and resulted from fractures of the pubic bones. Eight (21.2%) of the traumatic strictures were from iatrogenic causes. Thirty-three (48.5%) of the patients presented without any of the clinical complications of urethral stricture disease. Thirty-four (50.0%) of the patients had treatments other than urethral bouginage. This picture contrasts with the situation in the past when urethral strictures were predominantly post inflammatory in origin. The patients presented more with complications, involved almost entirely bulbar or penile urethral in location and were usually treated by periodic serial dilation.