Associated anomalies in patients with undescended testes

Out of 252 patients with undescended testes admitted under our care between January 1984 and September 1992, 70 had bilateral undescended testes and 182 had unilateral undescended testes. Fifty-one (20 percent) patients had at least one associated anomaly. Thirteen (25 percent) patients had more than one anomaly. The anomalies included 20 patients with urogenital disorders, eight with gastrointestinal tract anomalies, seven with abdominal wall defects, and seven with cardiovascular anomalies. In addition there were 11 patients with intersexual disorders, six patients with autosomal disorders and six patients with well-recognized syndromes. We found that the incidence of intersexual disorders among the patients with undescended testes was 4.6 percent, but the incidence was much higher (55 percent) in the group of patients with both undescended testes and hypospadias. Patients with bilateral undescended testes had a much higher incidence (46 percent) of associated anomalies than those with unilateral undescended testes (10 percent).