Complete penile disassembly in epispadias repair.

PURPOSE: To report current results of complete penile disassembly technique in epispadias repair.

METHODS

In ten years, we have preformed 31 complete penile disassembly for proximal epispadias repair. Twenty-four patients had epispadias after primary repair of bladder exstrophy and 7 isolated penopubic epispadias. The age of the patients ranged from 10 months to 6 years (median 3 years).

RESULTS

The shortening of urethral plate was found in 30 patients (97% of cases), and this shortening varied between 6 and 16 mm. However, in one patient we found a lengthening of the urethral plate of 8 mm. The narrowing of urethral plate was found in all patients, and this narrowing varied between 30 and 50% of the width of the plate. Postoperative complications encountered in our patients were dominated by fistulas and dehiscence, particularly in patients who had bladder exstrophy-epispadias complex. After dehiscence and fistulas repair, the cosmetic results were satisfying in 25 patients (80.5% of cases) with conical glans and meatus in orthotopic position without any necrosis of the glans. However, the urinary continence ≥ 1 h was observed in 6 patients (19% of cases) and only 3 patients (9.7% of cases) had a urinary continence ≥ 3 h. The mean follow-up was 61 months.

CONCLUSIONS

The complete penile disassembly remains one of the best techniques for epispadias repair. However, we noticed a reappearance of the dorsal curvature of the penis in a large number of patients treated for isolated epispadias and the impact of this technique on urinary incontinence remains uncertain.