Medical problems of the urethra

The medical problems of the Urethra include:

• Hypospadias and epispadias are forms of abnormal development of the urethra in the male, where the meatus is not located at the distal end of the penis (it occurs lower than normal with hypospadias, and higher with epispadias). In a severe chordee, the urethra can develop between the penis and the scrotum.
• Infection of the urethra is urethritis, said to be more common in females than males. Urethritis is a common cause of dysuria (pain when urinating).
• Related to urethritis is so called urethral syndrome
• Passage of kidney stones through the urethra can be painful, which can lead to urethral strictures.
• Cancer of the urethra.
  Main article: urethral cancer
• Foreign bodies in the urethra are uncommon, but there have been medical case reports of self-inflicted injuries, a result of insertion of foreign bodies into the urethra such as an electrical wire.

Investigations

There is a common misconception among males that women urinate through the vagina.

• Endoscopy of the bladder via the urethra is called cystoscopy.
• Urine cytology.

Sexual physiology

The male urethra is the conduit for semen during sexual intercourse. It also serves as a passage for urine to flow. Urine typically contains epithelial cells shed from the urinary tract. Urine cytology evaluates this urinary sediment for the presence of cancerous cells from the lining of the urinary tract, and it is a convenient noninvasive technique for follow-up analysis of patients treated for urinary tract cancers. For this process, urine must be collected in a reliable fashion, and if urine samples are inadequate, the urinary tract can be assessed via instrumentation. In urine cytology, collected urine is examined microscopically. One limitation, however, is the inability to definitively identify low-grade cancer cells and urine cytology is used mostly to identify high-grade tumors.