Bahar Ashjaei
Introduction: Cryptorchidism is the most common congenital anomaly in male genitalia in newborns with a frequency of 3% in term and 30% in preterm male newborns. Cryptorchidism is also known as undescended testis (UDT), which can be bilateral or unilateral. The aim of the study was to evaluate all cases with UDT referred to our center during 5 years.
Materials and Method: All UDT cases that were referred to Children’s Medical Center during the last 5 years were included in our retrospective study. The data were collected from the patients’ records and one medical student entered the data in the questionnaire designed for the study.
Results: A diagnosis of UDT was made at the time of birth in 122 (62.2%) of 196 cases, until one year of age in 153 (78.06%) cases, until two years of age in 161 (82.14%), until six years of age in 186 (94.89%) cases, and until 11 years of age in 196 (100%) cases. The age at surgery was under 1 year in 52 (26.53%) cases, between 1 and 2 years in 42 (21.24%) cases, between 2 and 6 years in 68 (34.69%) cases, and over 6 years in 34 (17.34%) cases.
Conclusion: Age at diagnosis was significantly lower than the perfect age for operation in most cases and the age at surgery was higher than the perfect age for diagnosis in half of the cases. Therefore, collaboration between general practitioners and pediatric surgeons and pediatricians is necessary for perfect and timely management of UDT.