Abstract
Congenital aphallia is a rare anomaly with little supporting literature and controversial management. The aim of this review is to assess the most recent literature with a focus on staged management of these cases. We performed a PubMed search of all English literature in the past 10 years using the term aphallia. Twenty-three articles were identified of which six were excluded. A further three papers meeting our criteria were found in the references to papers initially identified. We found that management can be staged in three phases: short, intermediate and long-term. We conclude that optimal short-term management centers on resuscitation and urinary diversion as necessary, intermediate-term management entails urethrorectal fistula division, urethrostomy and neophallus creation and long-term management results in successful neophalloplasty, urethroplasty, prosthetic implant and continued protection of the upper urinary tracts with a Mitrofanoff. All this within a multidisciplinary team ensuring shared decision-making with the patient and their family.
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Gabler, T., Charlton, R., Loveland, J. et al. Aphallia: a review to standardize management. Pediatr Surg Int 34, 813–821 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00383-018-4271-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00383-018-4271-z