Female urethral diverticulum. A series of 15 cases.

Urethral diverticulum is a rare disease, arising in the urethrovaginal sept um and communicating with the urethra through an orifice. Characterised by clinical polymorphism, it is diagnosed by urethrocystography and transvagin al ultrasound. We report a series of 15 cases of urethral diverticulum over a 10-year period. The mean age of the patients was post-voiding was 36 yea rs (range 24-50). The symptoms were recurrent urinary tract infections (66 %), post-voiding urethral leakage (22 %), vaginal pain (22 %). Clinical exa mination found a vaginal mass in all patients. Retrograde urethrocystograph y showed the diverticulum in every cases, while IVP confirmed the diagnosis in only 62 % of cases. Treatment is surgical and consists of removing the diverticulum via a vaginal approach. Short and long-term course is favourab le. All patients were asymptomatic and the follow-up urethrocystography sho wed no diverticular recurrence.