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Testicular morphological damage in young rats after inguinotomy with vascular trauma
Marcelo M Stegani1, Miguel A Agulham, Sérgio O Ioshii
1Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil.
Insights
Digital compression of spermatic vessels caused fewer prepubertal testicular injuries than clamping or cauterization. Young testicles showed resilience to vascular trauma, with no significant postpubertal alterations observed across groups.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Surgery
- Urology
- Experimental Pathology
Background:
- Inguinal surgeries are common in children.
- Trauma to spermatic vessels during surgery can lead to testicular atrophy.
- Understanding the impact of such trauma on testicular development is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the histopathologic effects of spermatic vessel trauma in prepubertal and postpubertal Wistar rats.
- To compare the outcomes of different trauma methods: digital compression, clamping, and cauterization.
Main Methods:
- Eighty Wistar rats were divided into four groups: digital compression (A), hemostatic clamping (B), cauterization (C), and control (D).
- Histopathologic analysis was performed on testicular tissue.
- Parameters included testicular weight, weight per body weight, volume, seminiferous tubular diameter, and biopsy score.
Main Results:
- Prepubertal rats showed decreased histopathologic alterations with digital compression (Group A).
- Clamping (Group B) and cauterization (Group C) resulted in more significant prepubertal alterations.
- No significant postpubertal histopathologic alterations were observed in any trauma group.
Conclusions:
- Digital compression of spermatic vessels is associated with less severe prepubertal testicular damage compared to clamping or cauterization.
- The testicles of young rats demonstrate a notable capacity for recovery from vascular trauma.
- Findings suggest that minimizing direct vascular manipulation during pediatric inguinal surgery is advisable.
Background/Purpose:
Operations for the treatment of inguinal diseases are the most frequent in childhood. Bleeding owing to trauma to the spermatic vessels is frequent and can cause testicular atrophy. The goal of this work was to determine the effects of the trauma to the spermatic vessels in the prepubertal and postpubertal histopathologic alterations in an experimental model in Wistar rats.
Methods:
Eighty albino Wistar rats were divided in 4 groups for the histopathologic analysis. In group A, they were submitted to digital compression of the spermatic vessels for 45 seconds; in group B, the spermatic vessels were clamped with hemostats for 5 seconds; in group C, the spermatic vessels were cauterized for 2 seconds. Group D was the control group, in which the animals were submitted to inguinotomy solely.
Results:
The prepubertal histopathologic alterations were significantly decreased in group A for testicular weight (0.97 +/- 0.10); in group B, for testicular weight (0.81 +/- 0.24), testicular volume (0.522 +/- 0.192), and mean testicular biopsy score (7.2 +/- 2.7); and in group C, for the 5 parameters studied, testicular weight (0.69 +/- 0.28), testicular weight per 100 g of body weight (0.498 +/- 0.188), testicular volume (0.765 +/- 0.308), mean seminiferous tubular diameter (236.6 +/- 62.5), and mean testicular biopsy score (6.9 +/- 3.1). The postpubertal histopathologic alterations were not significant for any of the 5 parameters studied, in the 3 groups.
Conclusions:
The prepubertal histopathologic alterations were more intense in the group submitted to cauterization of the spermatic vessels, intermediate in the group submitted to clamping of the spermatic vessels with hemostats, and less severe in the rats submitted to digital compression of the spermatic vessels. The postpubertal histopathologic alterations demonstrated the capability of the young testicle to recuperate from a vascular trauma.