Surgical management of priapism in children with sickle-cell disease treated at the Tokoin University Teaching Hospital, Lome: a study of 35 cases.

The surgical management over a 10-year period of 35 cases of priapism in ch ildren with sickle-cell disease has been analysed in a retrospective study carried out on average four years and five months after treatment. The mean age of each child was eight years and seven months. Twenty-one children we re aged between six and 12, and 14 children were between 12 and 15 years ol d. No child under six years of age was involved in the study. Twenty-nine c hildren (82.85% of cases) had received one or several medical treatments (b lood transfusion, thrombolytic agents, anticoagulants, etc.) before admissi on to the department. The time to surgery was variable; 19 children were op erated on within 48 h following the onset of symptoms. Bilateral saphenocav ernous derivation was the only technique applied in all cases. Overall, the results were dependent on the time lapse before operation; 21 good results (60%) were recorded, with conservation of the erection and absence of recu rrence. It is evident from this study that sickle-cell disease does not sig nificantly modify the classical approach to the surgical management of pria pism in general. (C) 2000 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.