Cryptorchidism

cryptorchidism, also called cryptorchism, undescended testes, or undescended testicles, disorder in which one or both of the testes do not descend spontaneously to the usual position in the scrotum. (The testes normally descend around the time of the male infant’s birth.) Usually only one testis fails to descend into the scrotum; the other, descended testis suffices to ensure the individual’s normal male sexuality. Cases in which both testes fail to descend are rare and are more serious, since undescended testes are usually nonfunctional (i.e., produce few or no sperm), and the development of normal male sexuality is thus threatened. An undescended testis remains within the inguinal canal or in the abdominal cavity. Besides being nonfunctional, an undescended testis is more likely to be injured, and the blood supply to it is more likely to be cut off by twisting. Also, testicular cancer is 5 to 10 times more likely to develop in an undescended testis, even if the condition is corrected through surgery.

Gonadotropin and surgical therapy are the primary treatments. Human chorionic gonadotropin can help evoke maturation of the external genitals, and, in many cases of testes located in the inguinal canal, the testes move into the scrotum subsequent to this drug therapy. If medication fails, surgical treatment is used to move the undescended testis down into the scrotum manually. Both drug therapy and this procedure are best performed before the patient is two years of age. The sperm production of the now-descended testis after therapy may be lower than normal in some cases, but fertility is usually unimpaired.