[Urogenital sinus and cloacal malformations in infancy and childhood: surgical considerations].

The relative rarity of urogenital sinus and cloacal anomalies, the wide range of their anatomical variants furthermore the number of different surgical options makes the successful management of a child with such urogenital abnormality one of the greatest challenges to the paediatric surgeon. Based on their own experience and the literature the authors give a review of embryology, pathology, and diagnosis of urogenital sinus and cloacal abnormality. They detail the new surgical therapy developed by Hendren and Pena which has been adopted in their routine. This therapy has significantly improved the functional outcome and prognosis of these anomalies. Over the past 20 years 25 patients with urogenital sinus and cloacal abnormalities were surgically treated in the author's institute.