Partial penile disassembly for isolated epispadias repair.

OBJECTIVES: Isolated male epispadias defect is present in 10% of cases of epispadias-exstrophy complex. Surgical repair of epispadias malformation remains debatable as evident by the different techniques adopted. The current study presents our experience in partial penile disassembly for isolated epispadias repair.

METHODS: Epispadias repair was performed on 11 male patients aged 4 to 13 years. Two were penopubic, 6 penile, and 3 glanular. All cases were fresh. Extensive disassembly of penile components was performed to the corporal attachments down to the horizontal branches of pubic bones. The corporal bodies were separated with the urethral plate left attached to 1 corpus to preserve its blood supply. Urethral plate was tubularized and then transported from dorsal to ventral position by using corporal rotation technique. Glanuloplasty was then performed. Patients were followed up for 6 to 12 months.

RESULTS: The penis had a satisfactory cosmetic appearance with no significant dorsal chordee. Two cases were transformed to subcoronal hypospadias, as it was difficult to bring the urethral plate to the tip of the glans because of its shortening. One child had a minute penopubic fistula that was repaired at a later stage.

CONCLUSION: Partial penile disassembly technique restores the anatomic relationship of the penile components. Our repair of partial penile disassembly is a simple modification of the Mitchell technique for isolated epispadias repair.