Comparison of closure versus non-closure of the intraoral buccal mucosa graft site in urethroplasties. A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Aim: To assess postoperative oral morbidity through meta-analysis of comparative studies for closure or non-closure of the buccal mucosa graft harvest area in patients undergoing urethroplasty.

Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted in January 2022. Randomized controlled studies were assessed according to the Cochrane collaboration guidelines. Postoperative pain, difficult mouth opening, alteration of oral salivation, perioral numbness, and tolerance of solid and liquid intake results were assessed. Standard mean differences and risk ratios with 95% confidence intervals were estimated for relative risk. Assessment was performed with subgroup analyses according to time points.

Results: This meta-analysis included 373 patients in 7 randomized studies. The oral pain overall pooled effect estimates were investigated for the time points of day 0-1, day 3-7 and months 1-6. According to corrected effect estimates after sensitivity analysis, at the day 0-1 time point, the non-closure group was significantly superior compared to the closure group. But there was no difference at the other time points and in total. The overall pooled effect estimates for difficult mouth opening were investigated at 4 time points (day 1, days 5-7, months 1-3 and months 6). After sensitivity analysis, the overall pooled effect estimates at 6 months were significantly superior for the non-closure group. There were no significant differences between the non-closed and closed groups based on the overall pooled-effect estimates for oral numbness, salivary secretion alteration, and tolerance of liquid and solid food variants.

Conclusion: The non-closure group was more advantageous in terms of oral pain in the early postoperative period. There were no differences between the groups in terms of alteration of salivation, oral numbness and toleration of liquid/solid food. Although the non-closed group seems more advantageous in terms of ease in mouth movements, more studies are needed to prove this.