Purpose: We determined the overall efficacy and predictors of success of the distal penile circular fasciocutaneous flap in the management of complex anterior urethral stricture disease not due to lichen sclerosus.
Materials and methods: We performed a retrospective review of all patients undergoing reconstruction of complex anterior urethral strictures without lichen sclerosus repaired from 1985 to 2006. Primary and overall stricture-free survival curves were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to identify univariate and multivariate predictors of flap success.
Results: A total of 124 patients met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Median patient age was 48 years (range 16 to 83). Median followup was 7.3 years (range 1 month to 19.5 years). Median stricture length was 8.2 cm (range 0.5 to 24). At 1, 3, 5 and 10 years the overall estimated stricture-free survival rates were 95%, 89%, 84% and 79%, respectively. On multivariate analysis smoking (HR 4.0, 95% CI 1.2-12.9, p = 0.02), history of hypospadias repair (HR 4.4, 95% CI 1.3-14.6, p = 0.01) and stricture length 7 to 10 cm (HR 7.0, 95% CI 1.4-34.7, p = 0.02) were predictive of failure.
Conclusions: Fasciocutaneous flap urethroplasty has good and durable success rates in the treatment of complex anterior urethral strictures. Predictors of failure included smoking, history of hypospadias repair and longer stricture length.