Abstract
Introduction
Hypospadias is the most common congenital anomaly of penis [1]. Surgical correction of proximal hypospadias is a technically challenging. Such surgeries are associated with maximum number of failures and results in cripples. Reoperation of failed childhood hypospadias repair is seriously bothersome and is surgeon’s nightmares because of lack of abundant penile and prepuce skin for urethroplasty and penile shaft coverage. Among the various complications of childhood hypospadias repair, partial disruption with urethrocutaneous fistula &complete disruption with pan urethral strictures and ueretro cutaneous fistula are most frustrating problem for urologists. But there is no best single technique to repair.
By using a water-tight second layer during reoperation, incidence of urethrocutaneous fistula recurrence can be reduced. Tunica vaginalis flap is used to provide robust cover to neourethra. It also provides a barrier between suture lines. It has a different blood supply from internal spermatic fascia & not depends on penile skin vascularity.
Long segment penile urethral strictures with urethro cutaneous fistula following childhood hypospadias repair are again a difficult surgical task. Most of times there is tissue shortage to cover such a long narrrowed urethral segments. These type of strictures are associated with complications most of the time. Tunica vaginalis flap has a definitive role in stage II repair of such pan urethral strictures to prevent urethrocutaneous fistula and for penile cosmesis.
References
1. Baskin LS. Hypospadias and urethral development. J Urol 2000;163:951-6.
2. Bracka A. Hypospadias repair: the two-stage alternative. Br J Urol 1995;76:31-41.
3. Snodgrass , Elmore J. Initial WT experience with staged buccal graft (Bracka) hypospadias reoperations. J Urol 2004;172:1720-4
4. Aslan G, Karg E, Erdogan B. Use of Circular Subcutaneous Tissue Flaps to Prevent Fistulas in Urethroplasty. Annals of Plastic Surgery 2001;46:86-7
5. Snow BW, Cartwright PC, Unger K. Tunica vaginalis blanket wrap to prevent urethrocutaneous fistula: an 8-year experience. The Journal of Urology.1995;153(2):472–473.
6. Snow BW. Use of tunica vaginalis to prevent fistulas in hypospadias surgery. The Journal of Urology. 1986;136(4):861–863.
7. Landau EH, Gofrit ON, Meretyk S, Katz G, Golijanin D, Shenfeld OZ, et al. Outcome analysis of tunica vaginalis flap for the correction of recurrent urethrocuteneous fistula in children. J Urol 2003;170:1596-9
8. Voges GE, Reidmiller H, Honenfellner R. Tunica vaginalis free grafts for closure of urethrocutaneous fistula. Urol Int 1990;45:88-99
9. Sharma N, Bajpai M, Panda SS, Verma A, Sharma M. Tunica vaginalis flap cover in hypospadias cripples: Our experience in a tertiary care center in India. Niger J Surg Sci 2014;24:7-11
10. Kadian YS, Rattan KN, Singh J, Singh M, Kajal P, Parihar D. Tunica vaginalis: An aid in hypospadias fistula repair: Our experience of 14 cases. Afr J Paediatr Surg 2011;8:164-7
11. Xue WY, Qu CB, Wang XL, Zhang FX, Kang CS. J Urol. 2003 Oct;170(4 Pt 2):1596-9
12. Routh JC, Wolpert JJ, Reinberg Y. Tunneled tunica vaginalis flap is an effective technique for recurrent urethrocutaneous fistulas following tubularized incised plate urethroplasty,J Urol. 2006 Oct;176(4 Pt 1):1578-80
13. Ahmed M. Khairi, Nour El-Kholi, Sherif M. Soliman , Ahmed Demairy Tunica Vaginalis Flap; A Feasible Second-Layer for Proximal Hypospadias Re-Do Annals of Pediatric Surgery, Vol3, No 1, January 2007 PP 44-47