Descent of the Testicle in the First Year of Life1

Abstract

SUMMARY A series of some 1,700 newborn infants has been examined in order to discover the frequency of undescended testicle, and to find out what happened to the testicle in those infants who had the deformity. The incidence of undescended testicle in full‐term infants at birth was 4 per cent. Of fifty‐five infants followed up, descent occurred within the first three months in the majority. After three months, descent was slow and appeared to be incomplete. At the end of one year seven infants remained in whom no descent had taken place. The close similarity between the incidence of the condition in infants 1 year old and in adults has been discussed. Evidence from these observations on infants suggests that complete descent of the testicle does not occur after 3 months of age in the full‐term infant.

Ascent of the testis revisited: fact not fiction

“…Many clinicians would probably take issue with Redman's assessment of the fallibility of scrotal examination in infants, and would be more likely to concur with Scorer [16] who noted, on the basis of examining ≈ 1700 boys, that 'examination of the testicle in the newborn is easy . .…”

Genital anomalies of males (GAM-complex)

“…Hungarian true birth prevalences correspond to the well-known international ones. For example Scorer [8] found a 4.0%, later a 2.7% [9] birth prevalence of [7] considerably exceed 1. Seventeen cases (10.3%) were classified as severe GAM.…”

No increases in the rate of undescended testis in Hungary during the last 50 years: A population‐based study

“…). Another important point of evaluation of IUT is the age of boys because the major part of IUT have late testicular descensus thus the rate of IUT is much lower at the third postnatal month than at birth and much higher in low birthweight (less than 2500 g) newborn infants because the testis descent occurs between 1300 and 2700 g in fetal development (Scorer , , ; Scorer and Farrington ; Mavrogenis et al. ).…”

“…Thus only cases with well‐defined diagnoses of IUT at birth were evaluated in the HCAR. However, cases with truly maldescended testes (Scorer , , ; Scorer and Farrington ) may include: anorchia and monorchia (the so‐called vanishing one or both testes); ectopic testis (testis is to be found in the perineum at the base of the penis or elsewhere: interstitial, femoral, gluteal, transversal, pubic position, i.e. outside its normal pathway of movement); obstructed (or superficial inguinal ectopia); dystopic testis (abdominal, canalicular, emergent, high scrotal). …”