TESTICULAR AUTOTRANSPLANTATION - A 17-YEAR REVIEW OF AN EFFECTIVE APPROACH TO THE MANAGEMENT OF THE INTRAABDOMINAL TESTIS

Purpose: Patients with intra-abdominal testes represent a small but challenging group who require innovative therapy. We report our 17-year experience with testicular autotransplantation. Materials and Methods: Testicular autotransplantation was performed in 23 patients with 27 intra-abdominal testes. Results: The success rate was 96% and average operative time was 4.25 hours with 40 to 90 minutes for vascular anastomoses. A contralateral Fowler-Stephens procedure had previously failed in 3 cases. Conclusions: Since the variability of collateral blood supply in patients with high undescended testes may potentially compromise the Fowler-Stephens procedure, we believe that testicular autotransplantation should be strongly considered in such patients, particularly those with bilateral undescended testicles.