WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

*Waleed Khalid Mohammed, Waleed Nassar Jaffal, Ehab Jasim Mohammad and Prof. Hayder I. Jawad Al Ameri

ABSTRACT

Background: The most frequent endocrine abnormality in male children is an undescended testis. Infertility,cancer, and testis rotation can all occur as a result of delayed identification and treatment of undescended testis.Objective: To assess the prevalence and determinants of delaying appropriate treatment in patients withundescended testicle. Methods: The records of patients treated for undescended testicles from March 2018 toMarch 2020 in six hospitals in Iraq (three public and three private hospitals) were retrospectively studied. Latepresentation includes cases initially presented to us after the first year of their lives. Whereas delayed therapyrefers to people who sought surgical operative remedy after the first year of their life, despite presenting beforethat time. The study included children with undescended testicles who received treatment throughout the timeperiod, after obtaining the consent of their parents or caregivers, and their records are complete. Results: Therewere 165 patients with 183 undescended testes. Mean age of patients was 2.3 ± 0.92 years; 61.8% of them were 1stnoticed before one year of age; and 59.4% of them were presented to urologist or pediatric surgeon formanagement after one year of age (Late). Mother was the most common person who noticed the empty scrotum(60%). The most common reason for late presentation was a lack of awareness that the testicles had not descendedeven before presentation (23%).Prevalence of late presentation and management was seen significantly amongpatients who lived in rural area, whose mothers had low educational level, who delivered by vaginal delivery, andwho delivered in general hospitals or at home. Conclusion: One of the main reasons for the late diagnosis ofundescended testicle is the parents’ lack of awareness of this form of health disorder. Therefore, we recommend,through our study, to increase the awareness and education of parents, as well as to conduct a thorough physicalexamination of the male newborn at birth and to continue to follow up on a regular basis up to 18 months and thuswe can eliminate on delays in diagnosis.

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