ABSTRACT
Exhaustive investigations of the bladder and urethra have been performed to explain the cause of urinary tract infection in young girls. Richards Lyon (UCSF) and his colleagues 1 , 2 did some of the most in depth work and reported their findings, from a large group of girls, in articles that appeared in the Journal of Urology in 1963 and 1965. The initial study group of 100 girls discussed in the 1963 article had grown to 152 at the time of the 1965 report. Voiding cystourethrograms for these patients showed many different proximal urethral shapes which included: funnel, arrowhead (spinning top) and T-shape (Figure 1). These shapes were all thought to be indicative of urethral stenosis. The spinning top urethra and its alternate forms became very controversial signs since many other authors felt that they were normal findings. This latter opinion has prevailed and the appearance of a spinning top urethra is now considered normal. Arrowhead (spinning top) outline in child with ‘distal urethral stenosis.’ Reprinted from Lyon and Tanagho<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref83_1"> <sup>1</sup> </xref>. Distal urethral stenosis in little girls.J. <italic>Urol.,</italic> 1965, 93, 379–87, with permission of Williams and Wilkins https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003076568/34c29fd5-5662-4e8f-b58c-badd7fa5d724/content/fig83_1_B.jpg"/>
