2021 Volume 47 Issue 2 Pages 72-77
We present the case of a 26-year-old man with urethral injury caused by severe frostbite.
He became lost while climbing a mountain in winter and suffered from frostbite. He was found three days after his disappearance and taken to a hospital. After intensive care, he was transported to our hospital for the treatment of frostbite. We found frostbite on the penis, both hands, both feet, and the left groin. Therefore, we performed debridement of necrotic tissue. During that procedure, the urethra was preserved. However, due to the urethral injury caused by progression of necrosis after the surgery, we needed to perform urethral reconstruction. We performed urethral reconstruction with oral mucosa grafting and covered the reconstructed urethra with a scrotal skin flap. The urethral catheter was removed on postoperative day 28, and the urethral lumen was observed with a urethral cystoscope to confirm that the oral mucosa was biopsied and that there was no urethral stricture. One and a half years have passed since the urethral reconstruction surgery, and the patient has maintained good urinary function and had fathered a baby after discharge from the hospital, confirming that erectile function and fertility have been preserved.
Urethral injury due to frostbite is considered to be very rare. The surgical selection was made according to the treatment of urethral injuries due to trauma. In this case, reconstruction with an oral mucosa graft was performed with good results. Urethral reconstruction was effective for urethral injuries caused by frostbite.
