Granular urethritis is a chronic infection that smolders in the urethra for months or years and causes a variety of misleading nonurinary symptoms. Backache, the most frequent of these, was present in 261 (87%) of 300 patients and was located most often in the sacral region with or without radiation into the thighs. Pus was absent from urine specimens obtained by catheter unless infection also existed in the bladder or upper urinary tract. The treatment by fulguration here described was carried out in the hospital with the patient under anesthesia induced by thiopental sodium. Correct postoperative care is essential, and the patient should be observed for at least three months. In a series of 300 women so treated 263 returned for final evaluation three or four months after fulguration, and all except 35 reported complete relief of their urinary symptoms. Among 185 who were followed for longer periods, more than half had no recurrences.