Long-Term Undesirable Consequences of Penile Skin Island Flap to Correct Penoescrotal Transposition: A Case Report and Review of Literature

Hypospadias is a congenital malformation of the male lower urinary tract, consisting of a ventral urethral opening proximal to the glans penis. This condition is corrected surgically in the paediatric age, with a great variety of techniques available. Traditionally, a tubularized genital skin was used for one- or two-stage repairs. Nowadays, the tendency is to use preputial or oral mucosa grafts, dorsally located, to avoid diverticula formation and prevent hair growth in the neourethra. We present a case of a patient born with proximal hypospadias with penoscrotal transposition, surgically corrected in his childhood, using dorsal penile skin island flap. The patient is referred to urology consultation in his adulthood for a weak urinary stream, recurrent infections, and a large amount of hair exiting through the urethral meatus.

Improving the Penile Skin Adequacy and Appearance by Patching of the Preputial Skin Island Flap (PSIF) in Distal and Midshaft Hypospadias Associated with Severe Ventral Skin Deficiency: Experience in 224 Cases

Objectives: Reconstruction of ventral penile skin, in midshaft and distal hypospadias is problematic in many cases of severe ventral dysplasia. So we plan to use the tailored preputial skin island flap (PSIF) to cover the ventral defect. Methods: In this prospective cohort study 224 boys with midshaft and distal hypospadias associated with sever ventral dysplasia were operated from March 2009 until January 2016. The large U-shaped bare area which exposed on the ventrum after release of curvature was quilted by the PSIF as a patch. In each case, the variable size of the flap was required. The prepuces without the predominant artery were excluded from the study due to poor vasculature. The patients followed for 8 months to 7years. Results: Flap ischemia developed in 7 initial cases (3.125%), all of which subsequently faded. Some degree of ischemic discoloration was encountered at margins of the flap (12 cases, 5.3%), which resolved spontaneously. In 5 out of 224 patients (2.23 %), the flap persisted as a hypertrophied area of skin in the long-term follow-up. All of them needed to be corrected surgically. Near normal appearing penile skin was accomplished in the majority of patients during the follow-up. However, lack of the median raphe in the ventrum was evident in all. Conclusions: Tailored preputial skin island flap, as a native tissue to cover the exposed large bare area on the ventrum in cases of the distal and mid hypospadias with severe ventral dysplasia may improve the appearance and adequacy of the penile skin. It provides room for full erection and improves the patient’ s perception of body image and self-esteem.

The Boomerang Thigh Flap: Optimizing the Donor Site for an Extended Skin Island Flap

Background The anterolateral region of the thigh is one of the most used donor areas for flaps. However, there are cases in which large defects require more than the conventional skin island provided by the anterolateral thigh flap (ALT). For an extended skin island flap, we developed a new boomerang thigh flap (BTF), in which a boomerang design includes perforators from multiple branches of the lateral circumflex femoral artery (LCFA), providing a single-pedicle, large, reproducible, and reliable flap. We report the anatomical study and the use of the new BTF in a clinical series. Methods We dissected 20 flaps in fresh cadavers to determine the anatomical landmarks, vascular pedicle pattern, perforator distribution, and BTF flap dissection technique. After achieving a reproducible and reliable technique, with primary closure of the donor site based on the pinch test, the BTF was applied for microsurgical reconstructions in the head and neck, lower limb, and upper limb regions. Results The BTF corresponds to a 45° confluence of the ALT and the tensor fascia lata (TFL) elliptical skin islands. It includes the perforators from the transverse/ascending and the descending branches of the LCFA , which conjoined into a single arterial LCFA pedicle in 85% (17) of the cadaver dissections. All the venous branches drained into a single lateral circumflex femoral vein. ALT perforator distribution followed literature descriptions, while TFL perforators were mainly septocutaneous and projected into a virtual rectangle of 6 × 4 cm at the lateral margin of the TFL. Average BTF dimensions were 40 × 8.6 cm. For the clinical cases, flap dimensions and pedicle characteristics were equivalent to the anatomical findings. The BTF was separated into two skin islands in four cases and no major complications were reported. Conclusion The BTF is a reliable, reproducible, and divisible flap that provides extended skin island for reconstruction of large defects.