Microvascularization of the Pelvic Urethra in the Newborn and the Child: Urologic Surgical Research

The pelvic urethra is the most complex apportion of the human urethra, which passes through the prostate and the urogenital diaphragm. The aim of the present study is to examine the origin and distribution of tributary arteries of this portion of the male urethra. This was an observational, prospective and chirurgical research. The vascular system of the various 8 subjects was injected with Chinese ink agar either by catheterization of the abdominal aorta after upper ligation of this one or from a buttoned needle introduced into the common iliac artery. The thick sections are dehydrated in increasingly concentrated alcohol solutions and then transparified according to the Spalteholtz method. On the thin slices, stained with Hemalum eosin or Masson's Trichrome, and vascular structures were analyzed. Our reading of the microvasculature of the posterior urethra was related to the histological structure of the wall. The pelvic urethra includes a smooth muscle tunic and a thick mucosa. It is tributary of the pelvic vessels and those coming from the muscularis and the bladder mucosa. The verumontanum received its vascularization from vessels of the mucous and smooth muscle layers of the bladder. The vascular network comes from the arteries of the area of the urethra. These are transverse, parallel to the muscular fibers. They are reduced-sized arteries that descend either directly into the smooth muscularis (penetrating artery) or through its inter-fascicular or fascicular branches. The glandular portion of the urethra was traversed by fine arterial vessels whose caliber decreases in depth of the prostatic tissue. They were oriented obliquely downwards and forwards, either directly towards the urethral submucosa, or after 3-4 anastomoses with homologous arteries. The study of the microvasculature of the pelvic urethra which is the initial aim of this work, led us to examine the origin and distribution of tributary arteries of this portion of the urethra. To the vascular networks, a particular vascular device very anastomotic consisting of transverse, recurrent, fascicular and inter-fascicular spiral arteries. Surgically, the first ligation of the vesicoprostatic artery into the vesicoprostatic groove is necessary in ademomectomy.

Key Words: human newborns and children - pelvic urethra - microvasculature