A Study of the Sources of Delay in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Undescended Testicle

Undescended testicle is the term applied to a group of congenital conditions which by their nature should be detected at birth. A study of the identification and treatment of cases of undescended testicle in one health district was undertaken through examination of hospital records. Altogether, only one in five cases of undescended testicle had been detected at birth. The main agents responsible for the detection and referral of cases were the school medical services and general practitioners. An average of 42 per cent of these boys had been seen as inpatients or outpatients by either surgeons or paediatricians before the diagnosis of undescended testicle was made. This implies that neonatal examination is inadequate or that unnecessary operations are being performed, or that there is a different aetiology to the condition.