The importance of internal urethrotomy a.m. Otis for the incidence of urethral stricture following transurethral prostatectomy.

The most frequent late postoperative complication of transurethral prostatectomy (TURP) is the formation of urethral stricture. Several studies indicate that the number of strictures can be reduced by performing internal urethrotomy a.m. Otis just before TURP. We compared the incidence of urethral stricture in 218 patients, who in 1982 had TURP without preceding internal urethrotomy a.m. Otis as against 183 patients, who in 1983 had TURP with preceding internal urethrotomy a.m. Otis. In 1982 (-Otis group) the incidence of urethral stricture was 7.3%, and in 1983 (+Otis group) it was 4.4%. This difference is not significant, but the tendency and results from other studies make us recommend the method until a larger controlled trial has been performed.