How to treat unilateral testicular agenesis?

We all know that the testicles of men are the most important organs, because they are not only related to having children, but also to whether men have harmonious sex lives. Therefore, in daily life, men should pay attention to protecting their testicles and not let them have problems or be damaged. Then the question is, in clinical practice, there is a disease called unilateral testicular agenesis. How should this disease be treated?

Agenesis of the testis is also known as embryonic testicular regression syndrome. In this disease, the testicles of patients degenerate or disappear during the embryonic period, and the chromosome karyotype is 46, XY male. The external genitalia can be female phenotype, hermaphroditic or underdeveloped male phenotype. The incidence of unilateral agenesis of the testis is about 0.4% in males, and bilateral agenesis is even rarer.

Treatment of Agenesis

Unilateral testicular agenesis does not require treatment if the contralateral testicle functions normally and there are no other concurrent deformities. From the patient's psychological perspective, an artificial testicle can be implanted in the scrotum as a prosthesis. Except for its lack of function, the appearance and feel of the prosthesis are satisfactory.

Infants with bilateral testicular agenesis may consider sex reassignment surgery, first undergoing clitoridectomy and then vaginoplasty during puberty. Early determination of social gender and raising them as girls can reduce their parents' anxiety. If sex reassignment surgery is refused, sex hormone therapy should be applied early, and intramuscular testosterone injections should be given to promote the development of the penis and scrotum.

Bilateral agenesis of the testes can be treated with hormone replacement therapy during puberty by intramuscular injection of testosterone to promote masculinization. Bilateral agenesis of the testes is incurable and infertility can be treated by implanting artificial testicles into the scrotum as a prosthesis to meet the psychological needs of the patient. In addition, allogeneic testicular transplantation is another option. Allogeneic testicular transplantation is the same as other organ transplantation. Preoperative tissue matching is performed to exclude donor testicular, epididymal and vas deferens diseases.