Buccal Reharvest for Urethroplasty After Graft Site Closure is Safe and Does Not Affect Long-Term Oral Health

To understand the effects of reharvest on safety and long-term oral health in patients requiring buccal mucosa reharvest from a previously harvested and closed site for management of recurrent urethral stricture disease. We conducted an IRB approved retrospective chart review from 2014 to 2019 of all patients who underwent buccal graft urethroplasty at our referral based academic medical center. Surgical data was collected, and the validated Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) survey was administered to each patient. Descriptive statistics were performed and compared between patients who underwent a buccal graft reharvest and patients who underwent standard first time buccal harvest. Buccal graft beds were closed on both initial and reharvest. Four patients underwent a total of 5 ipsilateral buccal graft reharvests and 6 patients underwent first time buccal harvest. Median length of follow-up for all patients was 6 months (1-35 mo) and the median length of all grafts was 6 cm (5-6 cm) with no difference in the reharvest and first-time cohorts. For patients that underwent buccal reharvest, their median post-operative OHIP-14 score was 0 (0-9 pts) out of a possible 56 points. This compared to a median postoperative OHIP-14 score of 0 (0-10 pts) for patients who underwent first time buccal harvests with oral complications limited to one post-operative hematoma in the first-time cohort. Buccal grafts can safely be reharvested from a previous site with minimal concern for long-term oral health outcomes.