Hypospadias is defined as a defect in the development of ventral aspect of the penis with an ectopic opening of the urethral meatus. It has an incidence ranging from 1 in 200 to 1 in 300 live births (1).More than 300 procedures have been described in literature for treating hypospadias and these being carried out by pediatric surgeons, urologists and plastic surgeons(2).This has led to poor results with more complications. Meanwhile there is no universal agreed protocol to treat this common congenital anomaly. It is said that to learn hypospadias techniques residents should spend sufficient time of training with an experienced surgeon at a dedicated center where such cases are referred. This leads to improved learning curve and less complications with ultimate benefit of patients. The role of fellowship programmes for improving skills and trainee satisfaction is well documented in some studies (3). Keeping in view these facts a fellowship programme was announced by PAPS in its 17 annual meeting held at Bahawalpur in February 2012.It was named “Aivar Bracka Fellowship “to honor Aivar Bracka for his enormous contribution to hypospadiology.In this article we describe our humble experience of fellowship programme so that residents and fellows are encouraged to get this fellowship. This fellowship will help trainees to find
a simple algorithm to treat hypospadias.
(1) BaskinLS, ColbornT, Hypospadias and endocrine disruption: is there a connection? Environ Health Perspect 2001; 109:1175-83.
(2) Van der Werff, Van der Meulen Jc.Treatment modalities for hypospadias cripples.PRS 2000; 105:600-8
(3) Von Web SkyMN,Ober Kofler CE,Rufibach K Trainee satisfaction in surgery residency programmes surgery 2012 nov;152(5):794-801.
(4) Titley OG.Bracka A.A 5 year audit of trainees experience and outcome with two stage hypospadias surgery. BJplast Surg 1998; 51:370-5
(5) Obaiullah,M Aslam Ten-year review of h y p o s p a d i a s s u rg e r y f r om a s i n g l e centre.BJPS2005;(58):780-789.
(6) www.nwgh.pk
(7) Springer A, Krois W, Horcher E Trends in hypospadias Surgery: results of worldwide survey Euro Uro 2011 Dec; 60(6):1184-9.
(8) Sahin Coskun, Seyhan, Tamer Use of buccal mucosal graft in hypospadias annals of plastic surgeryApril 2003; 50(4):382-386.
(9) Bracka A .The role of two Stage Repair, modern hypospadiology.Indian J Uro 2008; 24:210-218.
All published material becomes the sole property of the Pakistan Journal of Plastic Surgery, copyrighted by the Pakistan Association of Plastic Surgeons (PAPS). By submitting an article or brief communication, all authors agree to these conditions.
During the submission process, all authors have required to complete a copyright transfer agreement, “Author Consent form” By completing the copyright transfer agreement, you are transferring copyright of figures, tables, videos, and the content of the manuscript to the Pakistan Association of Plastic Surgeons (PAPS).
If you do not wish to or cannot transfer copyright of some or all of your content, please contact the editorial office at pjpspakistan@gmail.com