Hypospadias: the release of chordee without dividing the urethral plate and onlay island flap (92 cases)

Standard teaching states that the correction of fibrous chordee requires division of the urethral plate. Subsequently, it is necessary to reconstruct the urethra using tubular urethroplasty, which carries a significant incidence of complications, for example stenosis. In fact, we have demonstrated that it is possible to release severe chordee associated with hypospadias simply by dissecting the urethral plate of the corpora rather than dividing it. Between 1989 and 1993 we operated on 101 patients with hypospadias with fibrous chordee. The release of chordee was achieved without dividing the plate in 92 patients (91%), including all 71 cases of penile hypospadias, 11 perineal hypospadias and 10 reoperations. A total of 92 urethroplasties was performed with an onlay flap and 19 complications occurred in 15 patients.