Undescended testes in a developing country: a study of the management of 71 patients

A testis located outside the scrotum is prone to a lot of complications but early detection and correction give good result. The purpose of this study was to determine the pattern of presentation, complications recorded, the surgical treatment offered and outcome in a developing country.

A retrospective study of patients that presented with undescended testes at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital between January, 1997 and December, 2006.

A total of 76 orchidopexies and 10 orchidectomies were done on 71 patients with undescended testes during the period. They were aged 9 months and 47 years (mean 8.3 +/- 7.9 years) at surgery. Only 31 (43.7%) patients presented at age 5 years and below while 40 (56.3%) presented after 5 years. Seventy-two (83.7%) testes were palpable, ultrasound scan was used to locate 10 (11.6%), while 4 (4.7%) could only be located during groin exploration. Intraoperative assessment of the testes were 54 (62.8%) normal testicular volume, 22 (25.6%) reduced volume and 10 (11.6%) atretic. All those aged 5 years and below had normal/reduced testicular volume and all had orchidopexy whereas those above 5 years with normal/reduced testicular volume had orchidopexy and those with atretic testis had orchidectomy. Post operatively, testicular growth was recorded only among the pre/pubertile boys, the testes retracted in two patients, scrotal skin infection in one, and intra scrotal haematoma in two.

Delayed presentation resulted in morphological changes, increased complications, number of orchidectomy and reduced chance of testicular growth post orchidopexy.