AimâCongenital monorchism is considered a condition in which an initially normal testis has existed but subsequently atrophied and disappeared due to a third trimester catastrophe (presumably torsion). Since inhibin B concentrations appear related to Sertoli and germ cells number, we evaluated pre- and postoperative inhibin B of boys with congenital monorchism to determine whether the well-known hypertrophy of the contralateral testis was reflected in inhibin B concentrations.
Materials and MethodsâTwenty-seven boys consecutively diagnosed with congenital monorchism (median age 12 months) underwent follow-up with reproductive hormones 1 year postoperatively (median age 25 months). The results were compared with inhibin B of 225 boys with congenital nonsyndromic unilateral cryptorchidism, by converting values to multiple of the median (MoM) for age in normal boys.
ResultsâTen boys (37%) had blind-ending vessels and ductus deferens (vanished testis) and the remaining (63%) had testicular remnants. At the time of diagnostic procedure, monorchid boys did not have significantly lower inhibin B (median 114, range 20â208) than unilateral cryptorchid boys (136, 47â393) (pâ=â0.27). During follow-up, MoM values of inhibin B increased in monorchid boys (median 0.59 to 0.98) and in unilateral cryptorchid boys (0.69 to 0.89) (both pâ