What does hidden testicles mean?

Cryptorchidism is caused by the descent of the testicles. Common causes include abnormalities in the gubernaculum testis or congenital testicular dysplasia. Clinical symptoms include infertility, malignant changes, hernia and testicular torsion. The common treatment is surgery. Before surgery, B-ultrasound examination should be performed first. If the testicles are absent, surgery is not required. So what does cryptorchidism mean?

First, what does cryptic testis mean? Cryptotestis refers to the failure of the testicles to descend into the scrotum, including incomplete testicular descent and ectopic testis. Clinically, the vast majority of cryptic testis are incomplete testicular descent. Ectopic testis are most often located in the superficial fossa of the inguinal groove. 80% of cryptic testis can be palpated, 20% cannot be palpated, about 20% of inpalpable testicles are absent testicles, and 30% are testicular atrophy. Children can retract their testicles, usually only need to follow up to prove that the testicles are in a normal state and not retracted. When diagnosing bilateral anorchiasis, the male chromosome karyotype must be confirmed and an endocrinological evaluation is necessary to help determine whether unilateral or bilateral testes are present.

Second, clinical manifestations: infertility. Cryptidysty can cause damage to reproductive cells. Early surgical treatment is required to fix the testicles to the scrotum to reduce the risk of reduced fertility. The earliest postnatal histological abnormality of cryptidysty is the dysplasia of interstitial cells that can be observed in the first month after birth. Unilateral cryptidysty after puberty should be removed because it is prone to malignancy and torsion in the future, and most testicles have lost their fertility.

Third, malignant transformation. Children born with undescended testicles are at risk of developing testicular malignancies. The incidence of germ cell tumors in men with a history of occult testis is about 40 times higher than in normal people. The location of undescended testicles affects the relative risk of testicular tumors. The higher the location, the greater the risk of malignant transformation. Half of the intra-abdominal testicles will develop malignant transformation. The most common type of testicular tumor caused by the testicles is seminoma. The incidence of carcinoma in situ in patients with occult testis is 1.7%.

What does cryptorchidism mean? Hernia. 90% of patients with undescended testes have patent processus vaginalis. The processus vaginalis usually closes after testicular descent and within the first month after birth. Patent processus vaginalis is associated with a higher risk of epididymal abnormalities. The clinical significance of patent processus vaginalis is that it can affect the effect of hormone treatment for cryptorchidism.