Therapeutic target
- Prompt elimination of maldescensus testis. → The therapy should be completed by the end of the first year of life, because there may be damage to the germ cells due to later therapy!
Therapy recommendations
- The first six months of life should be waited for spontaneous descent (“testicular descent”). After that, hormone therapy* should begin:
- LH-RH analogues (luteinizing hormone releasing hormone); 3 x 400 μg/d (one spray of 200 μg into each nostril 3 times daily) for 4 weeks;
- HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin); 500 I.U./week for 3 weeks; this is given immediately following LH-RH analogue administration (see above).
- If hormone therapy is not successful, an orchidopexy (from Gr. Orchis “testicle” and pexie “attaching”, “suturing”; surgical fixation of the testicle in the scrotum / scrotum) is performed.
* Note:
- Because randomized trials in recent years have shown that hormone therapy is not very effective in inducing descent of the retained testis, most guidelines in other European countries no longer recommend hormone therapy, as does the new American Society guideline issued in 2014.
