Introducing a large animal model to create urethral stricture similar to human stricture disease: a comparative experimental microscopic study.

Purpose: In this tissue engineering study we investigated urethral stricture formation to evaluate different treatment modalities in the large animal model and validate the most current, comparable effect of human stricture development for successful human clinical application.

Materials And Methods: In 12 male minipigs stricture formation was evaluated by urethrography 1, 8 and 12 weeks after stricture induction by ligation, urethrotomy or thermocoagulation. Normal human urethral and scar tissue of 6 patients was harvested and compared to animal specimens.