Boys with Undescended Testes: Endocrine, Volumetric and Morphometric Studies on Testicular Function before and after Orchidopexy at Nine Months or Three Years of Age

Abstract

Morphometric and volumetric data show that orchidopexy at 9 months is more beneficial for testicular development than an operation at 3 yr of age. Testicular volume was furthermore shown to reflect germ cell numbers in early childhood, whereas endocrine parameters could not predict cellular structure of the testis or its spontaneous descent.

Systematic review and meta-analysis comparing outcomes following orchidopexy for cryptorchidism before or after 1 year of age

“…After hand‐searching of the reference lists of the 12 eligible studies identified from database searching, a further three eligible studies were identified. In total, 15 published studies9 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 were included in the review ( Fig . 1 and Table  1).…”

“…1 and Table  1). Of the 15 papers, four by Kollin and co‐workers25, 26, 27, 28 were based on the same population of infants, and papers by Feyles et al 29. and Canavese and colleagues9 30, 31 also had overlapping populations.…”

“…and Canavese and colleagues9 30, 31 also had overlapping populations. There was one RCT reported in four studies25, 26, 27, 28 at different time points, three prospective cohort studies30 32, 33, one case–control study34, one retrospective cohort study nested within a larger case–control study35 and six retrospective cohort studies or case series9 29, 31 36, 37, 38. A retrospective cohort study by Tasian et al 37.…”

“…Of the included studies, four24, 25, 26 32 did not include any infants with intra‐abdominal testes, eight9 27,29 31, 33 36, 37, 38 had less than 50 per cent intra‐abdominal testes in their cohort, and four studies28 30, 34 35 did not report the proportion of intra‐abdominal testes.…”

“…Three studies27 32, 34 reported mean tubular diameter at time of study, contributing 154 testes to the intervention group and 201 to the control group. Tubular diameter in infants undergoing orchidopexy before 12 months of age was larger than that in the older children by a mean difference of 9·77 (95 per cent c.i.…”