Marcos Perez-Brayfield

The Society for Fetal Urology consensus statement on the evaluation and management of antenatal hydronephrosis

The evaluation and management of fetuses/children with antenatal hydronephrosis (ANH) poses a significant dilemma for the practitioner. Which patients require evaluation, intervention or observation? Though the literature is quite extensive, it is plagued with bias and conflicting data, creating much confusion as to the optimal care of patients with ANH. In this article, we summarized the literature and proposed recommendations for the evaluation and management of ANH.

Laparoscopy in the Surgical Management of the Non-Palpable Testis

Introduction: To demonstrate that laparoscopic intervention should be considered as the initial surgical approach in the management of the non-palpable testis (NPT). Methods: From 2007 to 2011, 100 testicular units underwent same surgeon laparoscopic management for NPT. Diagnostic laparoscopy was performed in all NPT and intra-abdominal testes (IAT) were managed by laparoscopic orchiopexy if low, laparoscopic Fowler-Stephens technique if high, and laparoscopic orchiectomy if atrophic. Percutaneous access to the abdomen was performed in most cases and laparoscopic management was performed with three 5 mm ports. We compared patient’s age, race, pre/post-operative exam, pre-operative work up, and IAT location upon laparoscopic intervention with surgical outcome. Fisher’s exact test for two independent proportions was used for statistical analysis and reported our results. Results: One hundred testicular units underwent diagnostic laparoscopy for NPT. All patients were from Puerto Rican descent. 55.0% were found to be intra-abdominal and were subdivided into groups according to surgical intervention. Mean post-operative follow-up was 24 months. Patients 24 months of age or younger undergoing diagnostic laparoscopy for NPT had a statistically significant probability of resulting in successful laparoscopic orchiopexy as opposed to laparoscopic orchiectomy due to an atrophied IAT (n = 55 testicular units, p < 0.05). No laparoscopic related complications were reported. Conclusion: Our findings support the use of an initial laparoscopic approach in the NPT as the majority of these patients will have IAT, avoiding unnecessary inguinal and scrotal explorations. We also recommend that patients with IAT should undergo laparoscopic orchiopexy prior to 2 years of age to increase probability of successful management. Further studies focusing in patients with NPT are needed in the future to confirm our findings.

Laparoscopic Single-Site Surgery in Pediatric Urology: Where Do We Stand Today?

Since the first description of the laparoendoscopic single-site surgery (LESS) in the pediatric urology population, various authors have shared their experiences and results. We aim to provide a review of current studies of LESS and share our experience with this modality. The current literature describes the use of LESS for most surgeries performed in the pediatric urology population with similar results to open and standard laparoscopic surgery. The authors have described their experiences with transabdominal and retroperitoneal nephrectomy, nephroureterectomy, pyeloplasty, orchidopexy, varicocelectomy, and renal cyst decortication. In our experience, LESS has taken a role for extirpative surgery since we use other modalities for upper tract reconstruction. The data available has validated LESS as safe and has demonstrated similar results to standard laparoscopic surgery and open surgery with better cosmetic results.

Age of the mother as a risk factor and timing of hypospadias repair according to severity

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Hypospadias is characterized by a displacement of the urethral opening in males that can change from the typical position within the glans penis to a subcoronal position (Type I), to anywhere along the ventral shaft (Type II), to penoscrotal, scrotal, or perineal positions (Type III). We and others have previously reported that age of the mother (≥ 40 years old) is a risk factor for having a child with hypospadias, but there is a scarcity of reports on whether such risk is higher for having a child with the mild (Type I) or the more severe forms (Types II and III). In addition, we aimed to assess the timing of hypospadias repair according to severity. METHODS Parents of children with hypospadias were interviewed by using a series of questionnaires (n = 128 cases). Severity was confirmed in the clinic and age of the mother was self-reported. Number of surgeries, age of child by the first and the last intervention was also assessed. Ordered logistic regression and the Brant test were employed to calculate risk between mild (Type I) and severe cases (Types II and III), and the assumption of proportional odds, respectively. The Mann-Whitney U Test was used to compare number of surgeries and age by the last repair between mild and severe cases. One-way ANOVA was employed to compare age of the child at the time of first surgery across severities (Types I - III). RESULTS Women ≥ 40 years of age are 3.89 times [95% CI: 1.20-12.64] at a higher risk for having a child with the more severe forms of the condition than younger women. Repair of Type I was accomplished with 1 intervention whereas more severe cases required 1 - 4 (2 ± 0.5) surgical interventions. The timing for hypospadias repair of Type I cases occurred at an average age of 16.2 ± 4.88 months, of Type II cases occurred at an average age of 20.3 ± 8.15 months whereas the average age of the first hypospadias repair among Type III cases was 12.68 ± 2.52 months. Number of surgeries according to severity (p ≤ 0.0018, z-ratio = 2.91) and age difference for the timing of last repair (p ≤ 0.045, z-ratio = 1.69) were statistically different, but not the age difference for the first repair. CONCLUSIONS Increased maternal age is associated with the most severe forms of hypospadias. There is room for improvement for the timing of hypospadias repair according to severity.

Concordance of Expert and Parental Opinion about Hypospadias Surgical Outcome Is Severity Dependent.

Introduction Hypospadias is a male congenital condition where the opening of the urethral meatus is not located in the typical anatomical position. It has been a challenge for empirical studies to ascertain the level of concordance of opinion among parents and urologists with regard to surgical outcomes according to hypospadias severity. Materials and methods Parents of children who had undergone hypospadias repair were recruited for this study (n = 104). A set of questionnaires that included some items with Likert scale were created to evaluate postsurgical satisfaction by parents and urologists. SAHLSA-50, a validated instrument for adult Spanish-speaking adults, was used to assess health literacy. Cohen’s kappa (κ) coefficient was used to assess interobserver agreement and Chi Square “Goodness of Fit” Test was used to determine probability of satisfaction. Findings Concordance on the level of satisfaction with surgical outcomes for Type cases I was slight (κ = 0.20; CI 95% 0–0.60), for Type II cases was moderate (κ = 0.54; CI 95% 0.13–0.94), and for Type III cases was substantial (κ = 0.62; CI 95% 0–0.56). However, the probability of satisfaction did not change according to severity (Chi Square “Goodness of Fit” Test; parents, p = 0.84; pediatric urologists, p = 0.92). These results cannot be explained by parental health literacy according to SAHLSA-50 test scores. Conclusion The level of concordance of opinion among parents and urologists with regard to their level of satisfaction with surgical outcomes is related to hypospadias severity, whereby the greatest level of concordance of opinion was achieved among most severe cases. This study underscores the need for longer follow-up to properly assess satisfaction with hypospadias repair, especially for the less severe forms of the condition.