The UREThRAL stricture score: A novel method for describing anterior urethral strictures.

Background: Urethral stricture description is not standardized. This makes surgical decision-making less reproducible and increases the difficulty of objectively analyzing urethroplasty literature. We developed a standardized system, the UREThRAL stricture score (USS), to quantify the characteristics of anterior urethral stricture disease based on preoperative imaging and intraoperative findings. Methods: To develop the USS, we retrospectively analyzed 95 consecutive patients with urethral strictures who underwent open urethroplasty by a single surgeon (SBB) at Barnes-Jewish Hospital from 2009 to 2011. The USS is a numerical score based on five components of anterior urethral stricture disease that help dictate operative decision-making: (1) (UR)ethral stricture (E)tiology; (2) (T) otal number of strictures; (3) (R)etention (luminal obliteration); (4) (A)natomic location; and (5) (L)ength. Stricture management was categorized by increasing surgical complexity: excision/primary anastomosis (EPA), buccal mucosal graft urethroplasty (BMG), aug-mented anastomotic urethroplasty (AAU), flap urethroplasty, and a combination of flaps and/or grafts. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to compare USS to surgical complexity. Results: The mean USS for EPA, BMG, AAU, flap, and combination flaps/grafts was 5.78, 8.82, 9.23, 11.01, and 14.97, respectively. Increasing USS was significantly associated with surgical complex-ity (p < 0.0001). Interpretation: The USS describes the essential factors in deter-mining surgical treatment selection for urethral stricture disease. The USS is a concise, easily applicable system that delineates the clinically significant features of urethral strictures. Valuable com-parison of anterior urethral stricture treatments in clinical practice and in the urological literature could be facilitated by using this novel UREThRAL stricture score. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]