Modified Extra Dartos Pouch Orchiopexy: Preliminary Report of 72 Cases

Background: Undescended testes are a common problem, affecting up to 3% of newborn males. The goals of orchiopexy in humans are to provide adequate scrotal fixation, to prevent recurrent torsion of the testis and spermatic cord or ascent of the testis, and to achieve these goals with minimal trauma to the testis. The best method of achieving fixation remains controversial. Purpose: The aim of our study is to evaluate our modified extradartose pouch technique in retaining testis in the scrotum. Patients and Methods: Between August 2005 and Sep-tember 2008, 61 patients with 72 orchiopexies with age ranged from 5 months to 15 years with the mean age of 58.5±40 months (4.8 years) were studied. All cases had palpable undescended testis. 20 patients (32.7%) had unilateral left side, 30 patients (49.1%) had unilateral right side and 11 patients (18%) had bilateral undescended testis. Results: Testis was located in the superficial inguinal pouch in 33 cases (45.85%), intracanalicular in 39 cases (54.16%). Hernial sac was found in 69 cases (95.8%), post-operative wound infection occurred in one case (1.38%) and haematoma formation in two cases (2.77%). No ascent of the testis nor testicular atrophy was observed in the follow-up period, which extends now up to 3 years and we still follow-up those cases. 3 patients (4 orchiopexies) lost follow-up. Conclusion. Our modified technique for extradartos pouch fixation seems to be a fast reliable method for orchiopexy, however comparative studies and long term assessment is still needed to establish this method.