Purpose: Hypospadias is one of the most common congenital deformities in the male urogenital system. Although there are more than 250 techniques for treating hypospadias, it is often difficult to repair severe hypospadias using conventional methods.
Materials and methods: We combined a buccal mucosa graft with a local onlay flap for urethral reconstruction in cases of severe hypospadias or a failed previous operation. A total of 162 patients with hypospadias (glandular 11, penile 40, penoscrotal 49, scrotal 34 and perineal 28) were treated between July 2000 and November 2003. For patients whose urethral meatus was perineal 2 treatment steps were taken. First, we used the aforementioned method to construct the penile urethra, and then we constructed the scrotal and perineal urethra with a local flap.
Results: Of the 134 nonperineal cases 127 were managed successfully in 1 stage, and 26 of 28 perineal cases were managed successfully in 2 stages. Most patients had a satisfactory penile appearance. A urethral fistula resulted in 8 cases, of which 4 closed spontaneously within 1 month postoperatively. Meatal stenosis occurred in 1 case.
Conclusions: This technique is simple, safe and reliable, especially in cases of failed previous operation or for salvage hypospadias repair with deficient local tissue.