A study of clinical opinion and practice regarding circumcision.
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AIM: To establish clinical opinion regarding appropriate indications for circumcision and to examine actual clinical practice. METHODS: A questionnaire was sent to all NHS hospital consultants in the Yorkshire region of the UK identified as having a role to play in the management of boys (under 16 years of age) requiring circumcision. Retrospective data on actual clinical practice during a three month study period were also collected via a simple proforma. RESULTS: Of 153 questionnaires sent, 64 were returned. Responses revealed varying opinions regarding appropriate indications for circumcision within each consultant group, and between paediatricians and surgeons. Surgeons were generally more inclined to recommend circumcision for each of the indications listed in the questionnaire. Analysis of clinical practice revealed that almost two thirds of procedures were carried out for phimosis, and nearly half of these children were under the age of 5 years. CONCLUSION: There are differences in the clinical opinions of surgeons and paediatricians on what constitutes an appropriate indication for circumcision. Paediatricians' opinions are generally more in line with current evidence than those of surgeons, possibly resulting in many unnecessary circumcisions. (+info)
Circumcision: a refined technique and 5 year review.
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The vast majority of circumcisions currently performed in the UK are for phimosis or balanitis and the patients are not looking for the denuded glans appearance of a ritual circumcision. We present a refinement of the sleeve technique of circumcision, which involves Horton's test to define the proximal incision margin, and bipolar electro-dissection. A review of all patients undergoing circumcision at the Wordsley Plastic Surgery Unit, in a 5-year period, has shown this technique to be safe with a haematoma rate of only 1.4%, and an overall complication rate of 3%. (+info)
Do men having routine circumcision need histological confirmation of the cause of their phimosis or postoperative follow-up?
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OBJECTIVE: To assess the accuracy of pre-operative diagnosis of preputial pathology ainongst urologists and general surgeons. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data were collected on 460 adult patients having had circumcision performed by either a general surgeon or a urologist over a 10-year period. RESULTS: Pre-operative diagnosis was consistent with final histology in 83% of cases and further management was never altered by the histological result. Re-referral rates were 0% for general surgeons and 2.7% for urologists (P > 0.05) and there were no cases needing further surgical intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Routine submission of histological specimens for analysis and out-patient follow-up are not required following circumcision. (+info)
Troubles with the foreskin: one hundred consecutive referrals to paediatric surgeons.
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To assess the reasons for and outcomes of referrals concerning the foreskin, 100 consecutive patients seen in paediatric clinics were followed to discharge. 18 referrals were for circumcision on religious grounds. Of the other 82, the main reason for referral was non-retractability or phimosis. At clinic, 24 (29%) of these were deemed normal for age, 31 (38%) were treated with topical steroid (successfully in 25), 9 (11%) were listed for preputioplasty, 7 (9%) were listed for adhesiolysis, 7 (9%) were listed for circumcision, and 4 were listed for other forms of surgery. 6 patients were identified as having balanitis xerotica obliterans (BXO), a condition that had not been suggested on referral. With the advent of new treatments for foreskin disorders, circumcision is decreasingly necessary. Knowledge of the natural history of the foreskin, and the use of topical steroids, could shift the management of paediatric foreskin problems from the hospital outpatient department to primary care. BXO is not sufficiently recognized as a form of phimosis that requires operation. (+info)
Treatment of phimosis with topical steroids and foreskin anatomy.
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OBJECTIVES: To correlate topical steroidal treatment of stenosed foreskin with the different degrees of glans exposure and the length of time the ointment is applied. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied 95 patients with phimosis, divided according to the degree of foreskin retraction. Group A presented no foreskin retraction, group B presented exposure of only the urethral meatus, group C presented exposure of half of the glans, and group D presented exposure of the glans, which was incomplete because of preputial adherences to the coronal sulcus. Patients were submitted to application of 0.05% betamethasone ointment on the distal aspect of the prepuce twice daily for a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of 4 months. RESULTS: Of 95 patients, 10 (10.52%) abandoned the treatment and 15 patients in groups C and D were excluded from the study. Among the remaining 70 patients, only 4 patients (5.7%) in group A did not obtain adequate glans exposure after treatment. In group A (38 patients), fully retractable foreskins were obtained in 19 patients (50%) after 1 month of treatment. In group B (28 patients), fully retractable foreskins were obtained in 18 patients (64.2%) after 1 month. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment was successful in 94.2% of patients, irrespective of the type of foreskin anatomy. The improvement may require several months of treatment. Patients with impossibility of urethral meatus exposure present around 10% treatment failure. (+info)
Inappropriate circumcision referrals by GPs.
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One hundred and twenty boys were referred by GPs over a 12-month period to a paediatric urologist for circumcision. The reasons for referral were: ballooning in 36, non-retraction in 28, balanoposthitis in 36 or a combination in 15. On examination 53% had a retractile, 21% a partially retractile and 21% a non-retractile foreskin. Six patients had obvious balanitis xerotica obliterans. Only one quarter of the patients required a circumcision. The penis was not examined by the referring doctor in 15 patients. The implications of this survey are that a large proportion of general practitioners have difficulty in discriminating between a true phimosis and a developmentally non-retractile foreskin. This diagnostic inaccuracy was greatest when the referring doctor did not examine the patient. (+info)
Kindler syndrome.
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Kindler syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disorder associated with skin fragility. It is characterized by blistering in infancy, photosensitivity and progressive poikiloderma. The syndrome involves the skin and mucous membrane with radiological changes. The genetic defect has been identified on the short arm of chromosome 20. This report describes an 18-year-old patient with classical features like blistering and photosensitivity in childhood and the subsequent development of poikiloderma. The differential diagnosis of Kindler syndrome includes diseases like Bloom syndrome, Cockayne syndrome, dyskeratosis congenita, epidermolysis bullosa, Rothmund-Thomson syndrome and xeroderma pigmentosum. Our patient had classical cutaneous features of Kindler syndrome with phimosis as a complication. (+info)
Surgical treatment of a rare case of penile squamous cell carcinoma in a 65-year-old man.
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Penile squamous cell carcinoma has been commonly reported in the past decades. We describe a rare case of a huge squamous cell carcinoma of the penis in a 65-year-old patient with a 4-year history of tumor growth, for which total penectomy, perineal urethrostomy and bilateral inguinal lymphadenectomy were carried out. We suggest that aggressive surgical intervention should be recommended for those with well-differentiated penile carcinoma regardless of the size of the tumor. (+info)