One-stage dorsal lingual mucosal graft urethroplasty for the treatment of failed hypospadias repair

The aim of this study was to retrospectively investigate the outcomes of patients who underwent one-stage onlay or inlay urethroplasty using a lingual mucosal graft （LMG） after failed hypospadias repairs. Inclusion criteria included a history of failed hypospadias repair, insufficiency of the local skin that made a reoperation with skin flaps difficult, and necessity of an oral mucosal graft urethroplasty. Patients were excluded if they had undergone a failed hypospadias repair using the foreskin or a multistage repair urethroplasty. Between January 2008 and December 2012, 110 patients with failed hypospadias repairs were treated in our center. Of these patients, 56 underwent a one-stage onlay or inlay urethroplasty using LMG. The median age was 21.8 years （range： 4-45 years）. Of the 56 patients, one-stage onlay LMG urethroplasty was performed in 42 patients （group 1）, and a modified Snodgrass technique using one-stage inlay LMG urethroplasty was performed in 14 （group 2）. The median LMG urethroplasty length was 5.6 ± 1.6 cm （range： 4-13 cm）. The mean follow-up was 34.7 months （range： 10-58 months）, and complications developed in 12 of 56 patients （21.4%）, including urethrocutaneous fistulas in 7 （6 in group 1, 1 in group 2） and neourethral strictures in 5 （4 in group 1, 1 in group 2）. The total success rate was 78.6%. Our survey suggests that one-stage onlay or inlay urethroplasty with LMG may be an effective option to treat the patients with less available skin after failed hypospadias repairs; LMG harvesting is easy and safe, irrespective of the patient＇s age.