LATE GONADAL-FUNCTION AND AUTOIMMUNIZATION IN FAMILIAL TESTICULAR TORSION

Testicular torsion, one of the most common pediatric urological emerge ncies, is rarely familial. This study deals with the sixth recorded fa mily with familial testicular torsion and the effects on the spermatog enesis and the appearance of testicular autoantibodies in three affect ed subjects (two brothers, aged 18 and 15 years, and their father, age d 48 years). The father and one of the brothers, who had peripubertal unilateral testicular torsion, presented normal fertility and oligozoo spermia, respectively. The other brother, who had a history of bilater al testicular torsion, did not present pubertal development until he w as 18 years old and he needed substitutive testosterone therapy. Sperm autoantibody titer increased only in the two cases with unilateral to rsion and remained unmodified at a 5-year follow-up. The results indic ate that testicular torsion can cause variable degrees of spermatogene sis impairment and induce development of autoantibodies against sperma tozoa and gonadal antigens. The persistence of fertility in the father and the progressive spermatogenesis recovery in one of the affected s ons suggest that the damaging effects of these autoantibodies deserve further investigation.