Urethroplasty for failed hypospadias repair: a matched cohort analysis

Objective: To determine the outcome of urethroplasty for failed hypospadias repair and to compare this with a matched cohort of patients treated with urethroplasty for other reasons.

Patients and methods: Between January 2000 and August 2007, 25 patients with a failed hypospadias repair were treated with urethroplasty (A). This cohort of patients was matched with a cohort of 25 patients who underwent urethroplasty for other reasons (B). The patients were matched for stricture location, stricture length, duration of follow up and type of urethroplasty. The outcomes were analysed and compared. A P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: There were no significant differences between the two cohorts in stricture location, stricture length, follow up and previous interventions. Patients in cohort A however were significantly younger. The surgical technique used was exactly the same in A and B. Failure was observed in 7 patients (28%) in A compared to 4 patients (16%) in B (P = 0.45).

Conclusions: Although a higher failure rate was observed after failed hypospadias repair, this is not proof of a worse outcome for urethroplasty after failed hypospadias repair due to the lack of statistical significance.