Japan's comprehensive undescended testis screening program: incidence of ascending testis after screening
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Read the article on pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗Article · Mar 2023 · 1 min read
In brief
In brief
This Japanese retrospective study of 376 boys demonstrates that comprehensive multi-stage screening for undescended testis from birth through age 3 significantly reduces the incidence of ascending testis and late surgical intervention compared to Western populations. The program achieved lower rates of surgery in boys ≥4 years (12.8% vs 30-50%) and ascending testis (5.7% vs 15.4%), suggesting early detection protocols effectively prevent testicular ascent after initial normal descent.
Written by the GCMD Library team from the article.
Purpose: Screening for undescended testis (UDT) in Japan is performed as a neonate, then at 1, 3, 10, and 18 months old, and 3 years old. Incidence of ascending testis (AT) after screening was reviewed.
Methods: All orchiopexy/orchiectomy at a single institute between July 2005 and June 2022 were reviewed retrospectively.
Results: 376 boys had 422 procedures; 54/422 (12.8%) were in 48 boys ≥ 4 years old (mean age: 6.7 years; range: 4-13); testes were normal (n = 22; 40.7%), small (n = 25; 46.2%), or atrophied (n = 7; 1.3%). There were 47 orchiopexies and 7 orchiectomies for atrophy. Incidence of AT in boys ≥ 4 years old was 24/422 (5.7%). Of these, 16/422 (3.8%) developed after normal descent and 8/422 (1.9%) were associated with retractile testis (AT + RET). Other indications included delayed treatment for UDT (n = 13), late referral by pediatricians (n = 10), and iatrogenic UDT (n = 6). Surgical intervention in boys ≥ 4 years old (12.8%) was less than that reported in the West (range: 30-50%) as was AT: (5.7% versus 15.4%) and AT + RET (1.9% versus 13.8%).
Conclusions: Comprehensive UDT screening probably contributed to the lower incidence of surgery and AT (especially AT + RET) in boys ≥ 4 years old.
DOI: 10.1007/s00383-022-05331-8