title: Distal hypospadias repair in infants without a postoperative stent.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To review our experience with infants undergoing distal hypospadias repair without a postoperative stent to determine if an unacceptable complication rate might justify its use.
  
  
  METHODS
  Children <1 year of age who underwent distal hypospadias repair by a single surgeon were identified through a prospectively maintained database. The use of a postoperative urethral stent was recorded for each case. Demographics, meatus position, operative technique and complications were also recorded. Patients older than 1 year or with hypospadias proximal to a subcoronal position were excluded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty-nine patients without a stent were identified in addition to 21 patients who had a stent for a minimum of 3 days. At 3 months follow-up, 4/89 (4.49 %) patients in the stentless group required circumcision revision. 1 patient experienced urinary retention. 1/21 (4.76 %) patients with a postoperative stent required reoperation for meatal stenosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The complication rate for infants undergoing distal hypospadias repair is low, does not appear to be significantly increased by forgoing a postoperative urethral stent. Avoiding a stent likely reduces a variety of associated adverse events and needs for short-term follow-up.
authors.affiliation: Maine Medical Center, Portland, ME, USA, dchalmers55@gmail.com.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Chalmers
authors.forename: Georgette L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Siparsky
authors.forename: Cole A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Wiedel
authors.forename: Duncan T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Wilcox
mesh_terms: D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007021:Hypospadias / Q000601:surgery*; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012086:Reoperation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015607:Stents; D014521:Urethra / Q000601:surgery*