What Are the Goals of Hypospadias Repair?

Discussion Hypospadias is one of the most common congenital malformations and is the most common penile malformation. It is defined as the urethral opening occurring on the ventral side of the penis. Other ventral tissues can be affected thus other problems such as penile curvature and/or scrotal problems can also occur. Embryologically the penis is formed in the following way: “At the beginning of the ambisexual stage, the urethral groove [is] bounded by the urethral folds [and] extends about halfway distally along the ventral aspect of the elongating genital tubercle. At the distal aspect of the urethral groove is the solid urethral plate…that extends to the glans of the developing penis. The urethral groove [then] extends distally to the glans by canalization of the urethral plate…. The urethral folds grow to the midline where they fuse to extend the penile urethra distally to the glans….” Examples of this process can be found here in Yamada et.al.’s article in Figures 4 and 5. Hypospadias prevalence world-wide and over time is “difficult to estimate,” as published studies show immense heterogenity. Some world-wide geographical areas show increased prevalence but others do not and methodologies are not consistent. A systematic review found the 5 largest studies estimating a prevalence of 1.4-50 per 10,000 live births from various time periods including 1964-2010. Hypospadias is considered a high heterogeneous problem influenc...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news