Urethral syndrome. A comparison of different treatment modalities.

Sixty women with the diagnosis of urethral syndrome were consecutively assigned to one of three treatment modalities. The first group (20 patients) was treated with tetracycline, 2 g/d for ten days. The second group (20 patients) was treated with three serial urethral dilations at two- to three-week intervals, and the third group (20 patients) received placebo for ten days and served as a control group. A detailed clinical evaluation and uroflowmetry were performed before treatment and eight weeks afterwards. A subjective cure, which was defined as an absence of symptoms at the follow-up visits, was achieved in 20% of the placebo group, 50% of the tetracycline group and 75% of the urethral dilation group (P less than .01). An objective improvement in uroflowmetry occurred only in the group treated with serial urethral dilation.