Objective: The etiopathology of spongiofibrosis, which causes idiopathic urethral stricture, is not clear. Progressive inflammation may contribute to the development of urethral stricture. In our study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between inflammatory markers such as neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), monocyte-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and recurrence of idiopathic urethral stricture.

Material and Method: Data of 40 patients who were diagnosed with primary idiopathic urethral stricture or having a relapse after treatment of idiopathic urethral stricture and 40 healthy control groups in our clinic were evaluated retrospectively.

Results: Mean NLR, MLR and PLR values in the urethral stricture group were statistically significantly higher than the control group (p =0.042, p =0.023, p =0.02, respectively). In the urethral stricture group, 21 patients presented with recurrence, while 19 patients had primary idiopathic urethral stricture. Mean NLR, MLR, and PLR values were lower in those with relapse than in those without relapse. However, statistically significant difference was found only in MLR values (p =0.009). Again, in the urethral stenosis group, no significant correlation was found between the number of recurrences or the length of the stenosis and inflammatory markers.

Conclusion: The significantly higher inflammatory markers in the urethral stricture group compared to the control patients support that the etiopathogenesis of idiopathic urethral stricture is associated with an inflammatory process. However, the low markers in the relapsed group suggest that the main pathology is not inflammation, but may be associated with ischemia, microtrauma or developmental causes previously suggested in the etiopathogenesis of idiopathic urethral stricture.