SEMEN QUALITY AND GONADOTROPIN-LEVELS IN PATIENTS OPERATED UPON FOR CRYPTORCHIDISM

In a long-term follow-up study we compared preoperative testicular pos ition, age at orchiopexy, and morphology of testicular biopsies invest igated at orchiopexy to sperm analysis results, testicular volume, and serum follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone levels at follow-up in 46 men with a history of surgical correction of cryptorch idism in childhood. They had undergone orchiopexy at age 1.5-12.0 year s, 24 for unilateral and 22 for bilateral cryptorchidism. Eleven (46%) of the 24 patients with unilateral and 7 (32%) of the 22 with bilater al undescended testes had a normal sperm analysis, whereas in men with impaired spermiogenesis oligo-asthenozoospermia was the predominant f eature. Three (13.6%) patients with bilateral cryptorchidism showed az oospermia, but none of the patients with unilateral cryptorchidism did . Neither the age at orchiopexy nor the average germ-cell count per cr oss-sectioned seminiferous tubule of testicular biopsies examined at o rchiopexy correlated significantly with subsequent sperm analysis resu lts or gonadotropin levels at follow-up. The pretreatment testicular p osition (''testicular position value'') has a high prognostic value fo r prediction of subsequent sperm analysis results and serum gonadotrop in levels.