[Optimal time for treating cryptorchism (author's transl)]

In a ten-year span (1950-1960) a total of 133 patients were operated upon for maldescent of testes. A follow-up enquiry traced 102, of whom 79 were re-examined. Maldescent had been unilateral in 71, bilateral in eight. All of the latter were infertile. In the others the fertility rate was the greater the younger the patient at the time of operation, best results being noted in those operated upon during the first or second year of life. Acquired testicular disorders seemed to play a minor role, while the normally descended contralateral testis was apparently damaged in an as yet undetermined manner (autoantigen-antibody reaction?) It is concluded that the optimal moment for operating on testicular maldescent is (at the latest) the end of the second year of life.