REPERFUSION INJURY AFTER DETORSION OF UNILATERAL TESTICULAR TORSION

Reperfusion injury has been well documented in organs other than testi s. An experimental study was conducted to investigate reperfusion inju ry in testes via the biochemical changes after unilateral testicular t orsion and detorsion. As unilateral testicular torsion and varicocele have been shown to affect contralateral testicular blood flow, reperfu sion injury was studied in both testes. Given that testicular blood fl ow does not return after 720-degrees testicular torsion lasting more t han 3 h, the present study was conducted after 1 and 2 h of 720-degree s torsion. Adult male albino rats were divided into seven groups each containing ten rats. One group served to determine the basal values of biochemical parameters, two groups were subjected to 1 and 2 h of uni lateral testicular torsion respectively, two groups were subjected to detorsion following 1 and 2 h of torsion respectively, and two groups underwent sham operations as a control. Levels of lactic acid, hypoxan thine and lipid peroxidation products were determined in testicular ti ssues. Values of these three parameters obtained from the sham operati on control groups did not differ significantly from basal values (P > 0.05). All three parameters were increased significantly in both ipsil ateral and contralateral testes after unilateral testicular torsion wh en compared with basal values (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively). D etorsion caused significant changes in lipid peroxidation products lev els in ipsilateral but not in contralateral testes when compared with values obtained after torsion (P < 0.01 and P > 0.05, respectively). I t is concluded that ipsilateral testicular torsion causes a decrease i n perfusion not only in the ipsilateral but also in the contralateral testis. Additionally, detorsion following up to 2 h of 720-degrees tor sion causes reperfusion injury in ipsilateral but not in contralateral testis.