Urethral Reconstructive Surgery

Abstract

Congenital abnormalities, trauma, infection, and cancer can all affect the urethra. In most of these cases, reconstructive procedures are eventually necessary. These procedures can be performed with native non-urologic tissues (skin, gastrointestinal segments, or mucosa), homologous tissues from a donor (cadaver or living donor kidney), heterologous tissues or substances (bovine collagen), or artificial materials (silicone, poly-urethane, Teflon). However, these materials often lead to complications after urethral reconstruction. The implanted tissue is sometimes rejected, and often, the inherently different functional aspects of the different tissues or materials used in the reconstruction leads to improper or inadequate tissue development. The replacement of lost or deficient urethral tissues with functionally equivalent ones would improve the outcome of reconstructive surgery in the genitourinary system. This may soon be possible with the novel tissue engineering techniques described in this chapter