Use of a digestive mucosal graft in urethroplasty. An experimental study--prospective utilization of the appendix mucosa.

Colic mucosa was used as a graft for urethral construction in 9 Sprague-Dawley rats. A urethrectomy was performed in each rat and then a urethroplasty built with the colic mucosa taken from a segmental colectomy. After 6 weeks to 3 months, all of these rats developed a typical urothelium. The digestive mucosa has been transformed into urothelium or acts as a stent to guide regrowth from each end. These results are encouraging, but the use of the appendix mucosa for hypospadias repair and for urethroplasty deserves further study.