Is it safe to solely use ventral penile tissues in hypospadias repair? Long-term outcomes of 578 Duplay urethroplasties performed in a single institution over a period of 14 years

Abstract Objectives Urethral plate tubulization (Thiersch-Duplay procedure) is a widespread procedure mostly used for distal hypospadias. Concerns of long-term outcome have led to this review of the results of a series of 578 cases. Patients and methods A retrospective review was conducted of 578 patients treated in a single institution following the same procedure and with the same follow-up. Most patients had distal hypospadias (517/578) and were operated on between 12 and 24 months of age (343 patients). The mean follow-up was 25.6 months (6 months-17 years). Evaluation was focused on urethral complications related to inadequate healing of the reconstructed urethra (fistula, urethral dehiscence, urethral stenosis and clinical dysuria). Complications were arbitrarily categorized into early (when occurring less than one year after surgery) and late (after one year). All data were submitted to statistical analysis. Results Of the 578 patients, 153 (26.5%) had unsatisfactory outcomes, of which 118 (20.4%) had inadequate urethral healing. Of these, 97 appeared early (57%) and 73 appeared late (43%). Fistula and dehiscence were significantly more frequent in the first post-operative year ( p Limits and flaws of this study focused on the absence of consensus on evaluation of hypospadias surgery. The paucity of literature on long-term outcomes of urethral plate tubulization was highlighted. A possible explanation of late stenosis of the reconstructed urethra was the poor growth capacity of the dysplastic tissues located beyond the division of the corpus spongiosum. Urethroplasties solely using ventral tissues may represent an additional risk of late failure, as they may not grow with the rest of the genital tubercle. Conclusion Significant short and late complications occur with techniques tubularizing the urethral plate, mostly fistulae in the first post-operative year and urethral stenosis after 1 year following surgery. Urethroplasties using ventral tissues may not grow at the same pace as the rest of the genital tubercle and may explain late urethral dysfunction. This series confirms the necessity of long-term follow-up of hypospadias reconstructions.