Usefulness of diagnosis by the urethroscopy under anesthesia and effect of transurethral electrocoagulation in symptomatic female urethral diverticula.

OBJECTIVE: We report accurate diagnosis and simple treatment of female urethral diverticula. PATIENTS AND METHODS: When routine urologic evaluation suggested a urethral diverticulum, urethroscopy was performed with the patient under anesthesia with palpation by an intravaginal finger and transurethral catheterization to seek the orifice of the lesion. When a diverticulum was detected, transurethral electrocoagulation was performed regardless of the lesion size.
RESULTS: Urethral diverticula were detected in 18 of 30 women examined (60%), with the maximum size being that of the tip of the little finger (about 10 mm in diameter). Transurethral electrocoagulation was performed. The postoperative course was uneventful in all patients, who were discharged from the hospital a day after surgery.
CONCLUSIONS: Careful urethroscopy under anesthesia is a useful diagnostic tool, and transurethral electrocoagulation may be one of the best first choices of treatment for female urethral diverticula.