• Home

Home > Medical Reference > Encyclopedia (English)

Toggle: English / Spanish

Undescended testicle

• Overview
• Symptoms
• Treatment

Definition:

The testicles develop before birth in the abdominal cavity. Normally, they descend into the scrotum before birth. Undescended testicle occurs when one or both testicles fail to move into the scrotum prior to birth.

Alternative Names:

Cryptorchidism; Empty scrotum - undescended testes; Scrotum - empty (undescended testes); Monorchism; Vanished testes - undescended

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Undescended testicles are fairly common in premature infants, and occur in about 3 - 4% of full-term infants. About 65% of the testicles typically descend by 9 months of age.

Once a testicle has been discovered in the scrotum, it is generally considered descended, even if it is temporarily retracted on a later examination. Sometimes a condition (referred to as retractile testes) will develop, in which the examiner can sometimes locate the testicles and sometimes not.

This occurs because of the strength of the muscular reflex (cremasteric reflex) that retracts the testicles and the small mass of the testicles before puberty. In this instance, the testicles descend at puberty. This is considered a variant of normal and surgical correction is not needed.

Testicles that do not descend by one year of age should be carefully evaluated. The literature suggest that definitive surgery should be accomplished by this age to confirm diagnosis and to lessen the likelihood of permanent testicular damage.

Testicles that do not naturally descend into the scrotum are considered abnormal throughout the patient's life. These undescended testicles have an increased likelihood of developing cancer regardless of whether or not they are brought down into the scrotum.

Bringing the testicle into the scrotum maximizes sperm production and increases the odds of good fertility. It also allows examination for early detection of testicular cancer.

In other cases, such as vanished testis, no testicle may be found upon surgical exploration. This may be due to in utero vascular insult (testicular torsion), resulting in an infarction (death of affected tissue).

Alternatively, this may be associated with congenital anomaly, in which case blind-ending blood vessels are seen in the vas deferens (the tube which normally carries sperm).

• Review Date: 6/14/2006
• Reviewed By: Neil D. Sherman, MD, Urologist, Essex County, NJ. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org). URAC's accreditation program is the first of its kind, requiring compliance with 53 standards of quality and accountability, verified by independent audit. A.D.A.M. is among the first to achieve this important distinction for online health information and services. Learn more about A.D.A.M.'s editorial process . A.D.A.M. is also a founding member of Hi-Ethics (www.hiethics.com) and subscribes to the principles of the Health on the Net Foundation (www.hon.ch).

The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed physician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Call 911 for all medical emergencies. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. Copyright 1997-2007 A.D.A.M., Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.