What should we do for our son's undescended testis?

Question

Hello doctor,

My son is 11 years old. He had undescended testis. The doctors found it diminishing, and they removed it through surgery. The other testis is still undescended. It is very small in size, and as per doctor the cord attached to it is small and hence cannot be brought down. Kindly advise.

Answer 1

Hi,

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The child had undergone orchidectomy for 0.15 to 0.19 inch atrophic testis which is too small to have a function. Only preoperative imaging studies to document the size of palpable inguinal mass or testes is not available. The other testis needs to be brought into the scrotum as it is also getting atrophic and with time the final functional potential of the testes may get damaged irreversibly. At this age, the catch-up growth may not be expected much. If the clinical examination indicates that the testes are coming to the neck of the scrotum, then it would not be difficult doing orchidopexy on remaining side. Long term sexual function may not be affected much, but fertility potential has a guarded prognosis. Fertility issue can be managed later on. Management till now looks fine. Go ahead with orchidopexy on the remaining side.