Orchidopexy for undescended testis in England: is it evidence based?

Current evidence-based recommendations are that orchidopexy for undescended testis should be performed before 18 months of age. We examined hospital episode statistics data for all orchidopexies performed in England over a 9-year period to see how well this guideline was implemented in current practice and examine trends.

Hospital episode statistics data were extracted from 1997 to 2005. Boys with both an Office of Population, Census and Surveys Fourth Revision code for orchidopexy and an International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision code for undescended testis were included.

Four thousand ninety-four (+/-21) orchidopexies were performed annually. Between 1997 and 2005, the proportion of boys who were younger than 2 years at the time of orchidopexy increased from 15.8% to 28.5% (P < .005, chi(2) test). When adjusted for age and population, there was a secondary peak of incidence at 8 to 10 years. Overall, 46.0% of procedures were performed by paediatric surgeons, 32.1% by general surgeons, and 21.2% by urologists. Over the 9-year study period, an increasing proportion of orchidopexies were performed by paediatric surgeons (P < .001, chi(2)).

Only 1 in 5 boys is operated on at an "evidence-based" age. The trend has been for more boys to receive surgery at an appropriate age, although the level remains unacceptably low. The reasons are likely to be multifactorial but may partly be explained by secondary testicular ascent.