Retractile testes: an outcome analysis on 150 patients

Background/Purpose

Retractile testes are testicles that can be brought down into their normal position in the scrotum but then immediately retract upward and out of the scrotum. The purpose of this study is to provide data on the outcome of pediatric patients with retractile testes.

Methods

A retrospective analysis was conducted on prospectively collected data on the outcome of 150 consecutive patients with retractile testis examined and followed up by one pediatric surgeon from April 1982 to April 1999, inclusive.

Results

Age at presentation was 5.2 ± 3.0 years, and follow-up duration was 3.8 ± 3.0 years. The number of retractile testes was 205, right-sided for 58 patients (38.6%), left-sided for 37 (24.6%), and bilateral for 55 (36.7%). Family history of retractile testis was positive in 8 patients (5.3%). Thirty-four patients required surgery (22.7%); indication for surgery was given when retractile testes ascended and became cryptorchid or if testicular size decreased during follow-up. Orchidopexy was required more frequently (P < .001) in patients with an associated hernia (68.8% of cases) than in patients without hernias (9.2%). One patient with spontaneous testicular descent during follow-up had a testicular carcinoma.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that the majority of patients (77.3%) with retractile testes have a spontaneously favorable evolution by 14 years of age and do not require surgical treatment. The authors report the first case of testicular carcinoma in a patient with retractile testis, and this indicates that these patients should be followed up even after testicular descent.