Is prophylactic antimicrobial treatment necessary after hypospadias repair?

Purpose: We evaluate the complication rate after hypospadias repair with and without the use of antimicrobial prophylaxis. Materials and Methods: A total of 101 boys who underwent tubularized incised plate urethroplasty with urethral catheter placement during a 16-month period were randomly divided into group 1-52 treated with cephalexin from day I after surgery to 2 days after catheter removal and group 2-49 who did not receive prophylaxis. All children received cefonicid before surgery. Results: Average patient age was 2.3 years (range 11 months to 6.5 years). Hypospadias was coronal in 54 boys, penile in 33, glanular in 9 and penoscrotal in 5, the distribution of which was similar in both groups. Median time to urethral catheter removal was 8.6 days in group 1 and 8.3 in group 2. Overall bacteriuria was noted in 11 children in group 1 and 25 in group 2. The most common pathogen was Pseudomonas aeruginosa in group 1 and Mebsiella pneumoniae in group 2. Urethrocutaneous fistula developed in 3 boys in group 1 and 9 in group 2, meatal stenosis occurred in 1 boy in group 1 and 4 in group 2, and 1 boy in group 1 had meatal regression. Three boys in group 1 and 12 in group 2 had a complicated urinary tract infection (p <0.05). There was no difference in the number of surgical complications between boys for whom this was the first operation or a repeat hypospadias repair. Conclusions: A broad-spectrum antibiotic is recommended before and antimicrobial prophylaxis after hypospadias repair. This protocol may decrease the risk of complicated urinary tract infections after surgery, and probably reduce meatal stenosis and urethrocutaneous rates.