Penile Plication as Salvage Strategy for Refractory Peyronie's Disease Deformities

We identified clinical and/or surgical factors contributing to failure of penile plication for Peyronie's reconstruction and assessed outcomes of repeat plications.

We conducted a retrospective review of patients who underwent penile plication between 2007 and 2016. Plication was performed after inducing an artificial erection intraoperatively using corrective longitudinal 2-zero Ethibond™ sutures placed systematically in a uniform manner without circumcision. Penile length, and angle and direction of curvature were recorded, along with number and location of plication sutures and clinical outcome.

Of 340 patients undergoing penile plication during the study period 7 (2.1%) underwent repeat plication for insufficient straightening. Two additional patients underwent salvage plication after initial surgery performed elsewhere. Median time to revision was 6 months (range 3.4 to 27.4). The most common clinical features at reoperation were severe erectile dysfunction in 5 cases (71%), multiplanar curvature in 5 (71%) and severe curvature (60 degrees or greater) in 3 (43%). Most revisions involved a greater number of sutures during revision (mean 9) compared to initial plication (6), and in 4 cases (44%) sutures were placed on the proximal shaft. After revision all cases were noted to be functionally straight, with a mean postoperative curvature of 4 degrees (range 0 to 20) at a median followup of 27 months (3 to 76).

Inadequate correction of Peyronie's disease curvature by penile plication is rare but salvageable by a second plication procedure. Poor erectile response to intracavernous injection intraoperatively may mask the severity of the deformity, thus leading to inadequate numbers of corrective sutures.