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Holmium: YAG Versus Cold Knife Internal Urethrotomy in Management of Short Urethral Strictures

Holmium: YAG Versus Cold Knife Internal Urethrotomy in Management of Short Urethral Strictures: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Status
Completed
Phases
Phase 2Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT04650347
Enrollment
80
Registered
2020-12-02
Start date
2017-03-01
Completion date
2019-03-01
Last updated
2021-03-02

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Urethral Stricture, Male

Brief summary

Urethral stricture disease is defined as narrowing of the urethral lumen because of fibrosis, which occurs in urethral mucosa and surrounding tissues. The etiology could be congenital, iatrogenic, infectious, or idiopathic. Several techniques are currently available for minimally invasive treatment of urethral strictures, including cold-knife incision, electrocautery, and various types of laser incisions. An incision with the cold knife does not cause any thermal effect on surrounding tissues but should create a mechanical injury that may lead to recurrence in long term. An incision with the electrocautery should cause a significant thermal effect on healthy surrounding tissues resulting in recurrent strictures during follow-up. Laser treatment modalities have gained popularity in the last two decades. the aim of this trial is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of endo-urethrotomy with Holmium laser and cold knife endo-urethrotomy

Detailed description

Urethral stricture disease (USD) is the narrowing of the urethra from scar tissue, related to genitourinary tract infections, inflammatory skin conditions, traumatic urethral injury, pelvic radiation, and urinary tract instrumentation. It has an estimated prevalence rate of 0.6%.1-3 USD is a common and challenging problem for urologists. Multiple treatment modalities are available for the management of urethral strictures depending on the site and length of stricture, this includes simple urethral dilatation, urethral stenting, endoscopic visual internal urethrotomy (VIU), or open reconstruction. Since 1974, Sachse's internal urethrotomy has been considered the treatment of choice for USD which is fast and simple to carry out and is associated with a short recovery time. The success rates are 33%-60%. Bulow et al in 1979 introduced the laser for internal urethrotomy. The obvious dominance of Ho: YAG are clear vision, less bleeding, precise incision and ablation of scar tissue, and short hospital admission, however, most literature assessing the adequacy of the laser in contrast to cold-knife urethrotomy show no difference in final results. The aim of this trial is to assess the efficacy, safety, complications, and results of Holmium laser urethrotomy and cold knife internal urethrotomy for urethral stricture.

Interventions

PROCEDUREvisualized internal urethrotomy

incision of a urethral stricture to treat urinary obstruction using Quanta Holmium device or Sache cold knife, 18 Fr silicon catheter was kept for 7 days following the prodecure.

Sponsors

Ain Shams University
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
TRIPLE (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Masking description

patients, data collector, and the statistician were blinded to the type of intervention. the assessment was done to group A and B

Intervention model description

the investigators planned to conduct a controlled trial with randomization in which eighty participants will be included with symptoms of outflow obstruction secondary to urethral stricture. this is between March 2017 and December 2019. those patients attended the outpatient clinic of our tertiary hospital of Ain Shams University. patients were allocated into 2 equal groups randomly. each group involved 40 patients. Group 1 will represent the holmium laser internal urethrotomy group while group 2 will represent the cold knife internal urethrotomy group.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
MALE
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* men with urethral stricture above the age of eighteen were included in our trial. the length of the urethral stricture was less than 1.5 cm.

Exclusion criteria

* patient with complete urethral stricture with a suprapubic catheter in place. * patients whom internal urethrotomy is not applicable like multiple urethral strictures or balanitis xerotica obliterans.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Maximum flow rate (ml/sec.)at 3 monthsmaximum flow rate, uroflow finding (ml/sec.)
Maximum flow rate(ml/sec.)at 12 monthsmaximum flow rate, uroflow finding (ml/sec.)

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
number of patients with penile extravasationfirst day postoperativepenile swelling from fluid extravasation
operation time in minutesintraoperative findingtime of operation from cystoscopy till catheter insertion
number of patients with urethral stricture recurrencefrom catheter removal up to 1 year postoperativerecurrence of symptoms with urine outflow obstruction and difficult voiding as measured by uroflow
number of patients with urinary tract infectionfirst month postoperativeurinary tract infection from urine analysis and culture
number of patients with bleeding per urethrafirst day postoperativepostoperative bleeding around the catheter

Countries

Egypt

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026