Hypospadias and bladder exstrophy

Lifelong Congenital Urology: The Challenges for Patients and Surgeons

CONTEXT

Patients born with complex congenital genitourinary anomalies (including bladder exstrophy, cloacal exstrophy, epispadias, neurogenic bladder, hypospadias and posterior urethral valves) often require major reconstructive surgery in childhood. These conditions, their treatment and sequelae require lifelong follow-up. This has created the need for adult urologists to provide care as these patients grow into adults.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate current strategies for transition and provide a current position statement with examples of the challenges faced by patients and their health care teams as a result of these conditions and their treatment.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITION

Each of the authors was asked to provide a 500-word synthesis, based on current literature; to highlight the challenges faced in an area of their expertise.

EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS

The authors assembled in March 2018 to form a consensus based on the data gathered. The aforementioned sections were reviewed and following the consensus discussion the paper was formulated and reviewed.

CONCLUSIONS

Lifelong care of congenital problems is challenging and essential for many but not all. Expertise is needed to provide the best care for patients and make the best use of resources. Specialist centres appear to be the most effective and safe model. In the long term it would be ideal to establish an evidence base focused on the common long-term problems with these conditions to ensure excellent care with appropriate expertise.

PATIENT SUMMARY

Patients born with complex congenital anomalies of the genitourinary system require specialist care in childhood. Many will need lifelong care to manage their condition and the treatment of it. There is growing interest in this area of medicine and this consensus statement addresses the need for lifelong care in this group. The aim is to ensure that all patients that need care at any age are able to find what they need.

Long-term outcome of male genital reconstruction in childhood

Hypospadias, epispadias with or without exstrophy, and disorders of sex development are among the most common anomalies of genitalia that occur during childhood. Considering the tremendous effect of genitourinary reconstruction on adult life, the evaluation of the long-term results of different techniques of genitoplasty in pediatrics is of the utmost importance. After reviewing the literature, the authors summarize the available long-term outcomes of genitoplasty in childhood, specifically focusing on the cosmetic, psychosocial, psychosexual and functional results, and emphasize that, contrary to the widely available data on early outcomes of genital reconstruction in the pediatric population, very few well described controlled studies have evaluated the long-term effect of genitoplasty in puberty and adulthood, in the sense that the surgeon should describe the peroperative findings in more detail and also be more structured in evaluating the postoperative result at follow-up visits. Finally, the authors conclude that more attention should be paid to the impact of these techniques on cosmetic aspects and psychosexual development in these patients after puberty, as they play a crucial role in their adult quality of life.

Bladder exstrophy masquerading as a pelvic fracture

Bladder exstrophy-epispadias complex is a rare spectrum of congenital anomalies that includes a midline abdominal wall defect and a widened pelvis with an anterior diastasis. Our patient was involved in a motorcycle accident with severe multiple injuries and concomitant bladder extrophy. In a unique and urgent clinical setting, his congenital pubic diastasis was initially misdiagnosed as a traumatic finding. A 21-year-old man presented with pelvic and extremity injuries following a motorcycle accident. Multiple fractures in the lower and upper extremities were diagnosed. Marked deformity and diastases of the pubic bones were observed on pelvic inspection. Ninety minutes later, hemodynamic deterioration ensued and was thought to be related to internal pelvic bleeding. The patient was prepared for immediate pelvic stabilization with an external fixator; however, after reevaluation, an intact posterior pelvic complex and lack of a hematoma was observed on a computed tomography scan. The stability of the pelvis was tested under an image intensifier. No instability was present, and pelvic injury was ruled out. Exstrophy-epispadias syndrome constitutes a potential pitfall in emergency trauma medicine. As demonstrated in the present case, in the emergency management of an unstable trauma patient, nontraumatic etiologies are often not considered in the differential diagnosis of pelvic diastasis. Avoiding false diagnosis and needless procedures necessitates familiarity with this condition.

Abnormal urine flow in boys with distal hypospadias before and after correction

PURPOSE

We established the urine flow rate and the effect of surgical correction on that rate in patients with hypospadias.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The urine flow rate, voided volume and residual urine were measured using an ultrasound flow probe and bladder scan in boys with distal hypospadias before operative correction in 42 with a mean age of 16 months, 3 and 9 months after operative correction in 28 and 11, respectively, and in a control group of 51 boys 0 to 3 years old (mean age 11 months). Long-term flow data were obtained retrospectively from the records of 63 patients with hypospadias 1 to 10 years after operation.

RESULTS

Of the controls 37% had mainly intermittent and sometimes fractionated flows, 4% had a plateau phase flow and 59% had mainly bell-shaped flow curves. The average maximum flow rate +/- SD was 6.8 +/- 4.1 ml per second and maximum flow rate/voided volume was 0.26 +/- 0.11 l per second. Of the boys with distal hypospadias 76% produced intermittent flows (fractionated in the majority) before correction. After correction this percent decreased to 50%. The average maximum flow rate was 7.5 +/- 2.5 ml per second before correction, and 6.6 +/- 2.8 and 7.2 +/- 1.8 ml per second 3 and 9 months after operation, respectively. Average maximum flow rate/voided volume was 0.22 +/- 0.12 l per second before, and 0.16 +/- 0.09 and 0.16 +/- 0.09 l per second 3 and 9 months after operation, respectively. In the long-term group maximum flow rate/voided volume was 0.13 +/- 0.11 l per second. The number of patients voiding with a plateau phase increased from 6% before to 13% and 17% after correction, respectively. An obstructive pattern was also observed in 41% of the long-term followup group.

CONCLUSIONS

An intermittent flow pattern is common in 0 to 3-year-old boys. It appears to be more common and more pronounced or fractionated in boys with distal hypospadias at the same ages. In relation to voided volume patients with hypospadias already produce an abnormally low urine flow rate before correction and even more so thereafter in the short and intermediate term. The corrective procedure increases the occurrence of flows with an obstructive pattern.

Ten-year experience with composite bladder mucosa-skin grafts in hypospadias repair

OBJECTIVES

A variety of surgical techniques and flaps have been described for hypospadias repair. We present our 10-year experience using a composite urethroplasty graft consisting of bladder mucosa and skin.

METHODS

We reviewed the records of 294 patients who had undergone hypospadias repair at our institution from 1993 to 2003. The meatus was penile in 221, penoscrotal in 55, and perineal in 18. They all underwent single-stage urethroplasty consisting of a composite tubularized bladder mucosa-skin graft. Patient age at surgery was 2 to 46 years old (mean 8.9).

RESULTS

Urethrocutaneous fistula formation occurred in 27 (9.1%) and urethral strictures in 9 (3.2%), for an overall complication rate of 12.3%. No proximal urethral anastomotic strictures or meatal stenosis developed.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results have demonstrated that composite bladder mucosa-skin flap grafts can be used successfully for urethral reconstruction in proximal, as well as distal, hypospadias repair. The distal tubularized skin flap prevented the occurrence of meatal stenosis.

Vaginal and penile reconstruction

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Reconstructive surgery for patients with genital abnormalities or for patients who require reconstructive efforts is challenging. This review highlights those articles, which are outstanding among all those important papers, which have been published during the last year (2002-2003).

RECENT FINDINGS

A greater understanding of embryonal development improves the success of reconstructive surgery. Other factors, such as the patient's sex, influence the surgical technique used and the degree of invasiveness or complexity. In the adult the pressure to shorten hospital stays has played a big part in the continual modification and enhancement of surgical techniques. In addition to modified techniques, new off-the-shelf materials are introduced to the clinic, which seem to have the potential to improve the surgical outcome and shorten hospital stays.

SUMMARY

With the continued successful basic anatomy and basic research, reconstructive surgery brings higher success rates. Long-term results are still required to validate the reliability of these new surgical techniques and materials.