Aim: To present the results from one clinic's experience of using small intestinal submucosa (SIS) in augmentation urethroplasty for management of strictures of the bulbar urethra. Methods: Urethral surgery was performed in nine men with strictures 4-6 cm. All of the patients were evaluated by history, physical examination, retrograde urethrogram, and uroflowmetry. Four layers of SIS were soaked in saline or Ringer's solution for 15 minutes at 37°C, and the inner surface of the patch was gently fenestrated with a thin scalpel. The patch was spread-fixed onto the tunica albuginea. The mucosa was sutured to the submucosal graft first at 2-3 mm inwards from the SIS margins, then the spongiosum tissue was attached to the margins with interrupted absorbable sutures. Results: Of the nine patients who underwent augmentation urethroplasty using SIS, only one had re-stricture at 6 months due to urethral infection. At 18 months after the surgery the uroflowmetry of the other eight patients was 20-21 mL/s. In terms of complications, six patients reported having post-micturition dribbling, and seven patients reported lack of morning erections for 35-69 days after surgery. Conclusions: Using SIS is a safe procedure; however, long-term follow-up is needed to substantiate the good short-term results.

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Plasma levels and urinary amino acid excretions were estimated by high-performance liquid chromatography in 15 control subjects and 36 stone formers (SFs) classified according to the stone type: (1) 22 cases with calcium oxalate stones; (2) four cases with pure uric acid stones; (3) 10 cases with magnesium-ammonium phosphate stones, either pure or mixed with apatite. Some types of stones (namely oxalate and uric acid calculi) are mainly formed as a result of a metabolic deficiency that may affect the amino acid metabolism, and thus may be reflected in the urinary amino acid pattern. Data demonstrated clearly that there is a general tendency towards decreased amino acid excretions in all SFs with all types of stones. As a whole, one can observe a higher percentage of patients with calcium oxalate and phosphate calculosis, who have low urine excretions of amino acids; about 50% are the SFs with lower urine excretion of serine, glycine, taurine and i-leucine; the high percentage of patients with CaOX calculi shows lower urine excretions of tyrosine and ornithine.

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