INCONSTANT ASCENDING TESTIS AS A POTENTIAL RISK FACTOR FOR SPERMATOGENESIS IN INFERTILE MEN WITH NO HISTORY OF CRYPTORCHIDISM

The usual testicular location, either low or high in the scrotum, as w ell as testis ascent into suprascrotal position at least once a week f rom a usually scrotal position reported by the patient to occur sponta neously and regularly, were recorded in 85 fertile and 1014 infertile men, including 95 with a history of cryptorchism. The frequency of at least one testis being in a high scrotal location was similar in ferti le (16.5%) and non-cryptorchid infertile (17%) men but higher in previ ously cryptorchid infertile men (27.2%), a difference probably due to cryptorchism. Testicular ascent was more frequent when scrotal locatio n was high rather than low, An ascending testis was encountered more F requently in previously cryptorchid (30.4%) than in non-cryptorchid in fertile men without any history of cryptorchism (18.3%) or in fertile men (11.8%). Moreover, in infertile men, spermatogenesis was more depr essed in cases of testicular ascent than when both testes were never a scending, independently of a varicocele, Testis ascent could be a risk factor for spermatogenesis in infertile men without any history of ma ldescended testicle.