Purpose: There is widespread belief that hypospadias surgery in adults has a greater urethroplasty complication rate than similar repair in children. We compared outcomes of primary and reoperative hypospadias repair in adults vs children.
Materials and methods: We evaluated prospectively maintained databases of consecutive boys and adults, defined as Tanner 4 or greater, treated with primary or reoperative hypospadias repair from 2000 to 2013. We searched for urethroplasty complications, including fistula, glans dehiscence, stricture/stenosis and diverticulum. All operations were done with the goal of creating a neomeatus at the normal location at the tip of the glans. Univariate and multivariate analyses were done to determine whether pubertal status impacted urethroplasty complications.
Results: A total of 1,140 patients were operated on by a single surgeon, including 69 adults with a mean age of 23 years. Complications developed in 209 cases (18%), including 124 of 883 primary repairs (14%) and 85 of 257 reoperations (33%). There was no difference in outcomes between adults and children. Complications were noted in 1 of 8 men (12.5%) vs 123 of 871 children (14%) with primary repair (p = 0.9) and in 16 of 61 (26%) vs 69 of 196 (35%) with reoperation (p = 0.2). Multivariate analysis showed that a proximal meatus and reoperation were risk factors for complications but not pubertal status.
Conclusions: In contrast to popular belief, our data do not indicate a greater risk for urethroplasty complications after hypospadias surgery performed in adulthood. Repair in adults can be done using the same techniques as in children with the same goal of a neomeatus at the tip of the glans.
Keywords: adult; hypospadias; penis; reconstructive surgical procedures; urethra.
Copyright © 2014 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.