Spectrum of urological procedures in University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

Aim: To determine the relative frequencies of types of operations, age and gender distribution of the patients and the indications for operation in the Urology Unit over a 10-year period between 1989 and 1998.

Setting: The Urology Unit of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital.

Type Of Study: Retrospective.

Methods: Patients' demographic data were collected from the Main Theatre registers of the Hospital, the Medical Records Department ward records patients' and case note. Those operations done in the Urology Unit were analysed.

Results: Urological operations (total 1875) formed 22.6% of all surgical operations in the hospital during the decade under review. There were 1847 males (98.5%) and 28 females (1.5%). The age distribution showed two peaks in the first decade and in the seventh decade. Frequencies of operations were least in the 4th decade and after the 9th decade. Circumcisions, surgery for prostate disease, procedures for urethral strictures, urological trauma and paediatric reconstruction formed the majority of operations. Endoscopic urological procedures were limited to the occasional cystoscopy. Some 67.6% of the operations were performed in the first half of the decade and 32.4% in the second half. A rapid decrease in the number of operations was noticed which compared with the same pattern in the Department of Surgery as a whole.

Conclusion: We recommend the establishment and development of human and material resources for Urological service for basic procedures and endo-urological practice in keeping with contemporary trends and the allocation of more theatre space and out-patient Clinic time to the urology service.