Technique of harvesting oral mucosa for urethral reconstruction. Evaluation of postoperative complications and patient satisfaction

Overview

The oral mucosa (OM) is a popular substitute for urethroplasty. The aim of this study was to describe the surgical technique and to investigate postoperative oral morbidity and patient satisfaction in a homogeneous group of patients of 350 patients, who underwent OM harvesting from a single check. The graft was harvested in an ovoid shape with closure of the wound. Standard graft size was 4 cm in length and 2.5 cm in width. Postoperative complications and patient satisfaction were investigated using a self-administered, non-validated semi-quantitative (0 = absence of complications or symptoms; 3 = the worst complication or symptom) questionnaire. 6 questions were used to investigate early complications and 13 questions to investigate late complications and patient satisfaction. Early complications: bleeding occurred in 15 (4.3%) patients. The majority of patients (85.2%) showed no pain and only 3.7% required use of anti-inflamma­tory drugs. The majority of patients (65.8%) showed slight or moderate swelling. Late complications: most of patients (73.4%) reported oral numbness for one week, 22.9% for one month and 3.77% for three months. The numbness due to scar was absent or slight in most of patients. Changes in oral sensitivity occurred in 2.3% pts. No difficulties opening mouth and smiling was found in 98.3% and 99.7% of patients, respectively. Slight or moderate dry mouth was found in 97.1% of patients. In response to the question: "Would you undergo oral mucosa graft harvesting using this technique again?" 343 pts (98%) replied yes and 7 patients (2%) replied no. In conclusion, the harvesting of an OM ovoid graft from a cheek with closure of the wound is a safe procedure with a high patient satisfaction rate.

Key words:
oral mucosa, urethroplasty, urethral stricture, cheek, quality of life, postoperative complications