Management of 220 adolescents and adults with complications of hypospadias repair during childhood

OBJECTIVE: The goal of hypospadias repair is to achieve normal voiding and good penile cosmesis with minimal complications. Some urethroplasties deteriorate from childhood to adolescence and late stage failures have been reported. We report our experience with adult patients who have had a previous repair during childhood and present with a late complication. METHODS: We reviewed the records of 220 patients aged 15–39 years old with a history of hypospadias repair who presented to our clinic. Forty-five patients with chordee, 39 with urethral strictures, 11 urethral fistulae, five with hairy urethras, three with urethral diverticula, and 117 patients with an abnormal glans or subterminal meatus were repaired. RESULTS: Median follow-up was 14 months. Two patients had persistent chordee. Island skin flap urethroplasty afforded one patient with a urethral fistula and another with a recurrent urethral stricture, while the buccal mucosa group had one fistula which healed spontaneously and two recurrent strictures. For the patients undergoing glanular repairs, seven had dehiscence or breakdown of the repair. All other operations were successful. CONCLUSION: Complications of childhood hypospadias repair may present later in life as some urethroplasties deteriorate with time. We now recommend to parents of children with repaired proximal hypospadias to come for follow-up as their child transitions to adolescence.