Paediatric balanitis xerotica obliterans: an 8-year experience.

Objective: Balanitis Xerotica Obliterans (BXO) is rarely described in the paediatric population. We report our 8-year experience, at Harold Wood Hospital, with BXO in circumcised boys.

Materials And Methods: Pathological tissue diagnoses of BXO from 1997 to 2005 were extracted from our histopathology database. Patient records were reviewed and demographic features, clinical presentation, referral history, operative procedure(s) and postoperative course were recorded.

Results: A total of 40 patients had a confirmed tissue diagnosis of BXO. Mean patient age was 9.6 years. The most common referral diagnoses were phimosis (70%), balanitis (25%) and only 2 patients (5%) had a referral diagnosis of BXO. 35 (87%) underwent curative circumcision and had no recurrence at a median follow-up of 13.5 months. A total of 5 patients (15%) had BXO involvement of the meatus and underwent circumcision combined with meatotomy or meatoplasty. No patients required extensive plastic operations of the penis.

Conclusions: The incidence of BXO in paediatric age group may be higher than previously reported. Early recognition of this condition is important because of the associated urethral stricture formation. Hence, we recommend that all circumcision specimens are sent for histopathological analysis (especially in areas where circumcision is widely practiced for ritual and religious reason) and patients should be followed up appropriately.