From April 1978 to September 1993, the Department of Urology of Giessen Medical School used laser urethrotomy as standard endoscopic treatment in benign urethral strictures. In this period, 900 urethrotomies were performed in 450 patients. The majority of strictures treated were iatrogenic (65%), located in the posterior urethra (62.8%) and classified as short ( < 1 cm) (71%). Argon laser urethrotomy was carried out in the 12° position according to the technique of internal optical urethrotomy. An indwelling transurethral catheter was left for 48 h after urethrotomy. Uroflowmetry after argon laser urethrotomy revealed the efficacy of the method. A retrospective analysis of the operations was performed. Analysis showed that recurrence appeared on average after 15.2 months (range 1–39) in up to 70.1%. Nearly 50% of recurrence was evident within 1 year following surgery. Recurrence was independent of location, length and etiology of the stricture. We conclude according to our data that argon laser urethrotomy is technically feasible. Due to the high recurrence rate the method offers no advantage over conventional internal optical urethrotomy.

All publications dealing with tortion of the testis stress the difficulty of diagnosis and the frequency of errors. This has suggested to us the need to develop a radio-isotope testiculogram corresponding to the radioisotope nephrogram used for renal functional diagnosis. The substance for the timeactivity curve is 99mTc pertechnitate which is taken up by the tubular epithelium of the testis and epididymis. A scan at 20 minutes proved highly diagnostic and produced a small amount of radiation only. Six quantitative parameters described the shape of the curve. These have been determined for the normal and related to age and point of measurement. It is then possible to differentiate partial and total tortion from acute epididymoorchitis. It is no longer necessary to subject every patient with acute testicular disease to surgery. With partial tortion, a conservative operation with fixation of the testis can be recommended instead of semicastration.