Clinic, prevention and treatment of gonorrhoeal urethral strictures

By stricture we mean a persistent narrowing of the urethral lumen caused by organic changes in the canal wall with the development of connective tissue and scar formation. According to the origin, strictures are divided into congenital and acquired, and the latter into inflammatory, traumatic and chemical; clinically, they are divided into permeable and impassable and 1) without residual urine and 2) with residual urine; the latter can be: a) with infection and b) without infection. Numerous statistics show that congenital strictures occur in no more than 5%. Among the acquired strictures, gonorrhoeal strictures are on the first place according to their frequency; on the average, they are from 70% to 95%. Traumatic strictures are in the second place - they occur in 3% to 12%. In last place are strictures of chemical origin.