Perinatal Testicular Torsion in Northern Ireland: A Nationwide 10-Year Review

Perinatal or neonatal testicular torsion (PTT) is defined as testicular torsion within the first 30 days of life. PTT is a rare event, and bilateral PTT is even rarer. However, recent articles have advocated emergency bilateral exploration to exclude the catastrophic possibility of asymptomatic contralateral testicular torsion leading to anorchia. The aim of this study is to evaluate PTT in Northern Ireland (NI) using a nationwide population-based retrospective observational study.

All boys in NI who underwent emergency scrotal exploration within their first 30 days of life for possible testicular torsion over a 10-year period (January 2010-December 2019 inclusive) were included. Intraoperative findings primarily evaluated included diagnosis and presence of synchronous or asynchronous (metachronous) contralateral testicular torsion. Secondary outcomes included correlation between intraoperative findings and any preoperative ultrasound scan (USS), and scrotal examination findings during postoperative outpatient follow-up.

A total of 19 patients who underwent emergency scrotal exploration in the study period were included. An intraoperative finding confirming the diagnosis of PTT was reported in 14 (73.7%) patients. The incidence of PTT was calculated as 11.3 per 100,000 per male live births in NI, with bilateral PTT accounting for two patients (14.2% of all PTTs), divided equally between synchronous and asynchronous PTTs. Of two affected testes where preservation was felt appropriate intraoperatively, only one was still palpable at follow-up, producing a testicular salvage rate after PTT of only 7.1%. Testicular findings on preoperative USS were confirmed intraoperatively in five out of six patients, producing a concordance rate of 83.3%.

This is the first nationwide population-based study to calculate more accurately the incidence of PTT, and bilateral synchronous and asynchronous bilateral PTTs, all of which seem to be significantly higher than previously estimated. However, in keeping with previous reports, this study confirms the poor salvage rate of testes undergoing perinatal torsion, and suboptimal concordance between preoperative USS findings and intraoperative diagnosis.