title: Does closure of the buccal mucosal graft bed matter? Results from a randomized controlled trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the effects of closure vs nonclosure of buccal mucosal graft harvest site.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients were randomized to either primary closure or nonclosure of buccal mucosal harvest site during urethroplasty. Graft widths were standardized to 2 cm. Prospective data were collected via patient visual analog scales (0-10) of 5 domains examining pain, numbness, tightness, drinking, and eating at postoperative day 1 and 3 and then at 3 weeks and 3 months until 1 year.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 34 patients who underwent randomization and completed the study. The preoperative demographics between both groups were comparable with no significant differences. The median age is 44 years. There were 16 patients in the closure group and 18 patients in the nonclosure group. The results show an improvement in the domains of pain (P = .08), drinking (P = .06), and eating (P = .03) in favor of the closure group at postoperative day 1 and 3. There are no significant differences in all 5 domains between both groups after 3 weeks postoperatively
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study shows that primary closure of buccal mucosal graft bed improves pain as well as oral intake in the immediate postoperative period. There are no long-term differences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Electronic address: ezzywong@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Eddy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ashani
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fernando
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ammar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alhasso
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stewart
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000601:surgery* / Q000637:transplantation; D010149:Postoperative Pain; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000601:surgery; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016038:Skin Transplantation; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014525:Urethral Stricture / Q000601:surgery; D013520:Urologic Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D014572:Urology / Q000379:methods; D014945:Wound Healing