title: Can regional anesthesia have an effect on surgical outcomes in patients undergoing distal hypospadia surgery?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Caudal and penile blocks are the most popular regional anesthetic techniques used in infants and children undergoing urological surgery. A recent report has suggested that penile venous pooling resulting from caudal blocks could affect surgical outcomes after hypospadias operations.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim was to report our experience in patients with distal hypospadias undergoing repair with caudal versus penile block.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective clinical database was constructed for patients who underwent distal hypospadias repair by a single surgeon (M.P.B.) at our sponsoring institutions for the time period 2008-2013 (n = 192). Collected data included hypospadias classification (glanular, coronal, subcoronal), chordee status, perioperative anesthesia (caudal vs. penile), and assessment of postoperative complications (fistula and meatal stenosis).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Risk ratio (RR) analysis for all distal hypospadias cases revealed that there is a higher risk of developing complications in patients who underwent caudal anesthesia than in patients who underwent penile block RR for a complication was 3.70 (95% CI 1.05-13.03; p < 0.04) (Figure).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Similar to other papers in the literature, we found that patients who underwent caudal anesthesia had more complications than those who underwent penile block. The limitations of this study include not adjusting the results according to the severity of hypospadias.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The main goal of this study was accomplished by demonstrating that, in our series, caudal anesthesia is associated with a higher risk of fistula formation after undergoing distal hypospadias repair than penile block.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, San Juan, PR, USA. Electronic address: tico2593@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jose A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Saavedra-Belaunde
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, San Juan, PR, USA.
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Soto-Aviles
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, San Juan, PR, USA.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jorge
authors.affiliation: HIMA San Pablo, Bayamon, PR, USA.
authors.forename: Karina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Escudero
authors.affiliation: HIMA San Pablo, Bayamon, PR, USA.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vazquez-Cruz
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, San Juan, PR, USA; HIMA San Pablo, Bayamon, PR, USA.
authors.forename: Marcos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perez-Brayfield
mesh_terms: D000765:Anesthesia, Conduction / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003251:Constriction, Pathologic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007021:Hypospadias / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D009407:Nerve Block / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D010413:Penis / Q000473:pathology*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D011647:Puerto Rico; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014521:Urethra; D014548:Urinary Fistula / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D013520:Urologic Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods
keywords: Caudal block; Hypospadias; Penile block; Plastic operation of penis; Postoperative complications