Urethral stenosis in young girls; a cause of recurrent infection of the urinary tract.

Recurrent urinary tract infection in young girls may result from unsuspected urethral stenosis. The diagnosis should be considered in the presence of symptoms suggesting obstruction of the lower urinary tract-symptoms such as infrequent voiding and straining on urination, particularly in intervals between bouts of acute febrile illness accompanied by pyuria or bacilluria. If radiopaque medium is retained in the bladder in unusual quantity following voiding at the close of excretory urography, it is suggestive but not pathognomonic of urethral stenosis. The diagnosis is established by instrumental calibration of the urethra under general anesthesia. Treatment consists in removing the cause by urethral dilatation and administering antibiotics and chemotherapeutic agents to overcome the infection.