Undescended testes: Diagnosis and timely treatment in Australia (1995-2014).

BACKGROUND

Routine primary care checks in infants and prepubertal boys aim for early detection and intervention of undescended testes (UDT). Congenital and acquired UDT cause infertility, and congenital UDT also increases testicular cancer risk. We examined 20 years of Australian orchidopexy data (1995-2014) to explore the national orchidopexy operation rates over time.

METHODS

Orchidopexy and population data were collected from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) for 1995-2014, and census data for each age group were also collected. Poisson regressions were used to analyse the data.

RESULTS

For patients aged DISCUSSION: The rate of orchidopexy per age has decreased in patients aged 5-14 years over the past 20 years, possibly indicating that acquired UDT is not being diagnosed and treated in some boys, risking infertility in adulthood.