This paper was presented at SIOP 2020 virtual meeting in the "Best of IPSO" session with the same title: Long-term urological complications after conservative local treatment in children with bladder-prostate rhabdomyosarcoma: A single-team experience.

Introduction: A review of the English literature indicates the faint superiority of laparoscopic (LA) over open appendectomy (OA) in the pediatric population; however, a developing-country's experience in the field is not available yet. This study presents our experience in LA versus OA over the last 7 years in one university hospital in Lebanon and compares our results to the international ones. Method: A single center retrospective study was done including all patients aged less than 15 years who underwent appendectomy. A description of each operative technique is presented. Patients' characteristics, intraoperative finding, operative timing (OT), length of stay (LOS) and short term postoperative complications including surgical site infection (SSI) rate, intra-abdominal abscess formation (IAA) rate and reoperation rate were all studied. Statistical analysis was done using Chi-square or Fisher's exact test, as for continuous, Student's t test was used or one-way ANOVA in case of more than 2 categories. Result: Appendectomy was performed in 84 patients. 52 patients underwent OA through a Rocky Davis incision, and 32 patients underwent a LA. We found an advantage of LA over OA in reducing SSI, otherwise both approaches were similar. Conclusion: In accordance with international results, in our experience, LA is superior to OA only with regards to SSI.

Background/Objective To draw a hint towards two simple modifications that could potentially decrease the complication rate. Patients and Methods It was a single center, single operator and retrospective study. All patients with severe hypospadias operated according to koyanagi with or without modifications were presented. The surgical technique was described. Complications like fistula, stenosis, dehiscence and urethral diverticulum were studied. Results and Limitations Nineteen patients were included and presented in a chronological manner. The first four patients were operated according to the original koyanagi technique. The next 15 patients were operated according to koyanagi and the urethroplasty was covered by a tunica vaginalis flap. In 10 of them, glanduloplasty was done primarily and in the last 5 patients, glanduloplasty was done as a secondary procedure. The complication rates were 100% in the original koyanagi group, and 0% in the subset were glanduoplasty was deferred. Conclusions Systematically covering the urethroplasty with a tunica vaginalis flap and deferring the glanuloplasty might ameliorate the results of the koyanagi technique.

Background: Outcome of children with bladder-prostate rhabdomyosarcoma has improved with multimodal therapies, including surgery and/or radiotherapy for local treatment. Our aim was to report the long-term urological complications after a conservative approach combining conservative surgery and brachytherapy. Patients and methods: Eighty-six patients, free of disease, were retrospectively reviewed. Symptoms related to urinary tract obstruction, incontinence, infection and lithiasis were reported and graded according to CTCAE classification. Only symptomatic patients underwent urodynamic studies. Risk factors for complications were analyzed. Results: There were 76 males and 10 females. The median follow-up was 6.3 years (18 months-24 years). Complications occurred after a median follow up 5 years (0-21). Twenty-two patients had long-term urological complications. Urinary tract obstruction was found in 15 patients, urinary incontinence in 14 patients. Recurrent urinary tract infection and urinary lithiasis were found in 5 patients respectively. Beyond symptom, 3 etiologies were identified: bladder dysfunction in 15 patients, urethral stenosis in 6 and uretero-vesical junction stenosis in 5. Posterior bladder wall dissection used in large prostatic tumors, operation at age less than 2 years and partial prostatectomy were identified as risk factors for these complications. Conclusion: The conservative surgical approach combined with brachytherapy for BPRMS leads to long-term urological complications in 22% of patients free of their disease. Optimizing brachytherapy doses for young children and establishing a clear and long term follow-up protocol, could help to reduce these complications.