Abstract

Objective: Surgery is recommended at the age of 6 to 18 months for undescended testis, which is an important childhood condition. However, the orchiopexy age in our country is higher. We retrospectively evaluated the undescended testis cases treated surgically at two different pediatric surgery clinics.

Materials and methods: Patients operated on at the Ordu Obstetrics Hospital and Denizli State Hospital Pediatric Surgery Clinics between 2006 and 2010 were retrospectively evaluated for the age of surgery and treatment method used. A total 416 testes of 387 patients (198 right, 160 left, 29 bilateral) were treated surgically by 4 different pediatric surgeons. Patients were divided into two groups: operated before (238 patients) and after (149 patients) 2 years of age. 

Results: The mean age was 6.34±0.45 years (range 3-13 years) and 16.14±0.45 months (range 3-24 months) in the first and second groups, respectively. The procedures were surgery in 369 patients, laparoscopic orchiopexy in 11 patients whose testis could not be palpated, and orchiectomy in 7 patients because of an atrophic testis. 

Conclusion: Age of undescended testis surgery is quite high in our country. To prevent this situation, we recommend to emphasize primary care services, increase the awareness of families, and participation of pediatric surgeons in suspected cases.