Efficacy of balloon catheter dilation treatment in children with phimosis in China

Abstract Background Circumcision has been the traditional method for the treatment of children with phimosis. Recently, a new treatment technique for children's phimosis is presented, which minimizes the repairing time and the postoperative complications, and also maintains the intact physical foreskin appearance. Existing studies encourage the use of this new technique, Balloon Catheter Dilation Treatment (BCDT), for the treatment of phimosis. We aim to investigate the efficacy and safety of BCDT in children with different types of phimosis. Methods A study was performed in children who were referred to our hospital for possible phimosis, between July 2015 and March 2018. All children were treated with either BCDT or conventional circumcision (CC). children were then reassessed for a one-month follow-up. A total of 3,671 outpatients were assigned to receive CC(n = 1175) or BCDT (n = 2496). Patient characteristics, operative time, visual analogue scale (VAS) of pain, cosmetic result, and complications were recorded. Results Significant differences were observed in complications (including the rate of blood loss, pain, edema, incarceratiom, dysuria), with p-value < 0.01 between the two groups of children given different treatment. There were significant differences in the VAS scores of pain at two hours after surgery (p-value < 0.01). Children who underwent BCDT were significantly more satisfied with the cosmetic results (p-value < 0.01). Conclusion BCDT is a safe, effective, and minimally invasive technique for children with phimosis. Compared with CC, BCDT have the advantages of a faster postoperative healing and a better effect on wound cosmetics. Trial registration: The consent to participate is not applicable because it is a retrospective study.