Construction of a female urethra using the vaginal wall and a buttock flap: experience with 40 cases

From 1975 to 1996 a urethra was constructed using tubularized anterior vaginal wall covered with a buttock flap in 40 female patients in whom urinary incontinence was associated with a short or absent urethra. The underlying pathology included bilateral single ectopic ureters, cloacal malformation, urogenital sinus malformation, previous failed surgery of the urethra, severe trauma, myelodysplasia, female hypospadias, ectopic ureterocele with destruction of the urethra, congenital epispadias, bladder exstrophy, and previous hysterectomy and vaginectomy for clear cell carcinoma caused by intrauterine exposure to diethylstilbestrol. Other reconstructive procedures in these patients included bladder neck narrowing from above in 33 patients, ureteral reimplantation in 35, and bladder augmentation in 21. In the prone position, a tube of vaginal wall was used to create a urethra when it was absent or lengthen the urethra if it was too short. The neourethra was extended up to the base of the clitoris, using a multilayered closure of soft tissue over it distally with introital muscle and adjacent mucosa. The proximal neourethra was covered with a buttock flap.

All patients were originally wet. Thirty-four are now dry. Four patients have minimal stress incontinence. Two patients have urinary diversions. The majority (n=25) void normally. Fourteen patients self-catheterize to empty their bladders. One patient wears an external appliance on the abdominal wall for collection of urine. Complications included: creating stress incontinence in one patient who had been previously dry by extracting a stone from the bladder, necrosis of a buttock flap from applying a tight perineal dressing, fistula requiring surgical closure in three patients, and slippage of the buttock flap in one patient.

This operation is a useful method to correct diverse congenital and acquired pathology that causes incontinence in girls.