"No stent, no diversion" Mathieu hypospadias repair

The Mathieu procedure is a surgical technique for anterior hypospadias repair. The disadvantage of this technique is the prolonged hospital stay associated with postoperative urinary diversion. In an effort to reduce the length of hospital stay the authors carried out a prospective study to determine the usefulness of urethral stents and urinary diversion after Mathieu repair. Seventeen boys (mean age 4.1 years) formed the experimental group, and 19 boys (mean age 4.6 years) served as controls. Urinary diversion and urethral stents were used postoperatively in the control group but not in the experimental group. After a minimum of 6 months of observation the complications noted in both groups were found to be similar. The authors conclude that urinary diversion and urethral stents have no beneficial effects on surgical outcome but do prolong hospital stay.