Abstract
Background/Purpose: Patients with undescended testes (UDT) may present with acute testicular torsion or incarcerated hernia requiring immediate surgical intervention. The exact incidence of these two complications among cases of UDT is not known. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of such conditions in our series of undescended testes, and to evaluate whether early intervention in undescended testes could eliminate such problems.
Patients and Methods: All the data of patients with undescended testes admitted for surgery in Aseer Central Hospital, Abha Saudi Arabia, over a 6-year period were reviewed. In two hundred and ninety patients, 18 presented acutely with torsion of the undescended testicle in the inguinal canal (n=11) or incarcerated inguinal hernias (n=7). The data of these 18 patients were looked up for patient characteristics. Methods of diagnosis, preoperative preparation, operative findings, operative interventions, histopathological results and outcome were all analyzed.
Result: Ten out of 18 patients (55.5%) were less than six months. Nine out of eleven patients with testicular torsion required orchiectomy. The other two underwent orchiopexy, which ended up with atrophy. All patients with incarcerated hernia had simultaneous hernia repair and orchiopexy; of which, three atrophied.
Conclusion: Acute testicular torsion and hernia incarceration in cases of cryptorchidism may be more prevalent than initially thought. Orchiopexy, as early as 3 months of age, may reduce the incidence of such problems. Therefore, earlier intervention in undescended testes (between 3-6 months) is recommended.