SONOGRAPHIC EVALUATION OF MALE ANTERIOR URETHRAL STRICTURES: CORRELATION WITH RETROGRADE URETHROGRAPHY AT UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA TEACHING HOSPITAL, ENUGU, NIGERIA

BACKGROUND: Urethral stricture is a common urological problem affecting the male gender. There is currently a progressive increase in its incidence in South-East, Nigeria. Retrograde urethrography has traditionally been the gold standard for imaging the anterior urethra. However, sonourethrography has evolved as a precise and effective imaging method for evaluating anterior urethral strictures. AIMS/OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of ultrasonography in diagnosing male anterior urethral stricture and to compare the findings with those on retrograde urethrography. METHODOLOGY: This was a prospective cross-sectional descriptive study. Fifty male patients with anterior urethral stricture had sonographic examination with a 7.5-10 MHz annular-array transducer on a mobile ALOKA ultrasound machine and the findings were compared with the concomitant retrograde urethrographic findings.The findings on both modalities were correlated with the intraoperative findings in five of the patients who had urethral surgery. RESULT: There was a good relationship between the length and diameter of anterior urethral strictures on Sonourethrography and Retrograde urethrography. The length and diameter of anterior urethral stricture on sonourethrography showed a strong positive correlation with intraoperative measurements while Retrograde urethrography showed a poor correlation with intraoperative measurements. CONCLUSION: Sonourethrography is as effective as Retrograde urethrography in detecting anterior urethral strictures. In addition,periurethral pathologies can be better delineated using SUG.