My 40-day-old son has undescended left testis. Will it come down on its own or surgery required?

Hi,

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According to the report you have sent (attachment removed to protect patient identity), the child has left-sided undescended testis. It is a common practice to wait until the baby is six months old before operating. There is a small chance that the testis might descend on its own by six months. They usually do not descend after six months and also the risk of that testis becoming nonfunctional if waited beyond six months is high. Another thing is, there is a small risk of that testis becoming cancerous if it is not operated within one year. So, your child will need a surgery orchidopexy by about six months of age if it does not descend spontaneously.

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

From the current point of view, the following are the possibilities in your child’s future.

1. The testis descends on its own and hence no surgery is required.

2. The testis does not descend and there is no point in expecting it to descend after six months, hence surgery is required.

3. Because the inguinal region is not conducive to the growth of the testis, it might even regress and disappear by six months.

4. The testis may not have formed at all on the left side and the structure seen in the inguinal region on an ultrasound could be an inguinal lymph node.

Surgery is the only option for undescended testis. The function of the testis following surgery is difficult to predict because the only sure way of knowing is, after he gets his companion pregnant, that is after he becomes sexually active. Even then, since the other testis is normal, the sperms could have been from the other testis. No sure way of knowing. So, on the bright side, even if one testis is present and normal, the child can lead a normal life.

The other way of knowing is to get a testicular biopsy, which in itself is a surgical procedure. The cost varies from hospital to hospital. I have no idea about the costs abroad.