Magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of urethral stricture

Introduction. In order to improve the results of surgical treatment of urethral stricture in men, it is extremely important to accurately diagnose preoperative changes. From this point of view, it seems promising to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the urethral stricture diagnosis, the assessment of which is the subject of this literature review. Materials and methods. The review is based on articles published throughout history in scientific peer-reviewed journals included in the databases PubMed (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/), Scopus (https://www.scopus.com/), Scientific Electronic Library eLibrary.ru (https://elibrary.ru/). The search was performed on the following keywords: «magnetic resonance imaging», «MRI», «urethral stricture», «urethral obliteration», «urethral stenosis», «urethral injury», «urethral distraction defect», «urethroplasty», «urethral reconstruction», «urethral surgery», «pelvic fracture». At the first stage, 308 sources were found, of which 23 articles were included in the review. Results. A total of 23 original studies were identified in which MRI was used for urethral stricture in men, of which 2 were Russian studies. Four studies evaluated only anterior urethral strictures, 10 studies evaluated posterior urethral strictures, and 9 studies - both anterior and posterior urethral strictures. These studies included 10 to 121 patients with urethral stricture (mean 42 patients). MRI generally provides more accurate information on the extent of the stricture, the nature of spongiofibrosis and other periurethral changes, the presence of concomitant pathology compared to traditional methods for diagnosing urethral stricture. Conclusions. MRI for urethral stricture provides additional information for treatment planning. However, given the high cost of the method and a small number of works, further research is needed to obtain sufficient grounds for the widespread clinical use of MRI in urethral stricture.