Comparative study of testicular volume in children with unilateral cryptorchidism of different ages in the tropical province of China

Objective: To assess the testicular volume in children with unilateral cryptorchidism of different ages in Hainan Province, China.

Methods: The study included 424 children (ranging in age from 0 month to 4 years) with unilateral cryptorchidism or normal who were treated from 2017 to 2021 at our institution. They were divided into different groups according to age. We evaluated the correlation of testicular volume between the children with cryptorchidism and the normal children among different groups.

Results: There was a significant difference in testicular volume between the affected side and the healthy side. There was no difference in testicular volume between the left side and the right side of each control group. There were significant differences between the affected side of cryptorchid groups and the same side of the control groups. There were no significant differences between the healthy side of cryptorchid groups and the same side of the control groups. There were no significant differences between the affected side of left cryptorchid groups and right cryptorchid groups. There were no significant differences between the healthy side of left cryptorchid groups and right cryptorchid groups. There were significant differences in testicular volume among different age groups of the control group, while there were no differences in the cryptorchid groups.

Conclusions: The development of testicular volume in children with unilateral inguinal cryptorchidism is affected in earlier age, and there was no compensatory testicular adaptation in the healthy testis.