TORSION OF ONLY SPERMATIC CORD IN THE ABSENCE OF TESTIS AND OR EPIDIDYMIS RESULTS IN CONTRALATERAL TESTICULAR HYPOXIA/

Unilateral spermatic cord torsion in the presence or absence of ipsila teral testis causes hypoxia in the contralateral testis. An experiment al study was conducted to find the most important structure that cause s contralateral testicular hypoxia following ipsilateral twisting. In five groups each consisting of 10 rats sham operations, epididymoorchi ectomy, spermatic cord torsion, spermatic cord torsion following subep ididymal orchiectomy or spermatic cord torsion following epididymoorch iectomy were performed. Lactic acid, hypoxanthine and thiobarbituric a cid reactive products of lipid peroxidation (TEAR) were determined in the contralateral testis While lactic acid, hypoxanthine and TEAR valu es did not differ significantly following sham and epididymoorchiectom y procedures, evaluation of other groups revealed significantly increa sed values compared with sham and epididymoorchiectomy groups. Since t orsion of only spermatic cord and testicular vasculature causes contra lateral testicular hypoxia, testis and epididymis do not seem to be ma ndatory for occurrence Of contralateral testicular hypoxia. Testicular artery under distress seems to be the most important structure that r esults in contralateral testicular hypoxia following torsion.