Long-term results of penile disassembly technique for correction of epispadias.

OBJECTIVES: To present our long-term results with complete penile disassembly for epispadias repair.

METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of our surgical records from 1996 to 2008. Group 1 included 12 patients who had undergone complete penile disassembly as a part of complete primary repair of bladder exstrophy, and group 2 included 9 patients with isolated epispadias.

RESULTS: The mean follow-up after epispadias repair was 58.2 and 58.6 months for groups 1 and 2, respectively. At the last follow-up visit, 83.3% of group 1 and 100% of group 2 were completely dry or had dry intervals >4 hours. Of the 21 children, 7 (33.3%) experienced minor complications, 4 in group 1 and 3 in group 2. No ischemic changes of the glans penis or corporal bodies were observed in either group. Erectile function was preserved in all patients.

CONCLUSIONS: Complete penile disassembly technique can achieve total or near complete urinary continence, decreasing the morbidity of multiple procedures and potentially allowing children to achieve continence at an earlier age. Our experience, with a mean follow-up of nearly 5 years and an overall complication rate of 33.3%, is comparable to that of other published series.