SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT IN PATIENTS TREATED FOR CRYPTORCHIDISM

An analysis of sexual development was carried out in 76 adult patients treated in childhood for cryptorchidism. Forty-seven healthy men serv ed as a control group. The cryptorchid patients had been, treated betw een the ages of 10 months to 13 years and their ages ranged from 16 to 30 years at follow-up. The onset of puberty, and sexual development, were within normal limits in all patients, although spermarche occurre d somewhat later in the patients than in the controls. In addition, th e patients were on average slightly less sexually active than the cont rols. Neither age at the time of treatment nor the method of treatment correlated with current sexual activity. The patients with larger tes tes were, however, sexually more active. Both treatment age and the me thod of treatment, whether hormonal or surgical, should be selected on the basis of fertility prognosis.