LUCKNOW, May 24 -- A 52-year-old woman, who had been suffering from urinary obstruction for the past 22 years, received a new lease of life after doctors at a city-based super specialty hospital successfully operated on her urethral blockage, according to a press release issued by the hospital on Friday. The woman had been suffering with severe urinary obstruction for 22 years following her first pregnancy, experiencing painful urination and urinary retention that often took over 30 minutes to relieve. Her condition was due to complete urethral stricture, a rare and severe narrowing of the urinary tract, which had remained untreated for years because of the high risk of incontinence and the need for highly specialized surgical intervention. Dr Rahul Yadav, director of urology, andrology, kidney transplant & robotic uro-oncology, of the super specialty hospital led the complex procedure. "The patient had a complete urethral blockage, a rare and serious condition in women, with an incidence of 0.1% to 1%. It is often misdiagnosed as urinary infections or overactive bladder," Dr Yadav explained. Using a multi-layered technique, doctors performed a Ventral Buccal Graft Urethroplasty with Martius Interposition Flap, harvesting a graft from her inner cheek to reconstruct the scarred urethra and adding a vascularised fat pad to aid healing. The two-hour surgery was complication-free. HTC...