Abstract

ABSTRACT
Background: Cryptorchidism is the most common genital problem encountered in pediatrics, it was first described by Hunter in 1786 and despite more than 100 years of research the anomaly is still not well defined and controversial. Objective: To determine the incidence of undescende testes in pupils of age group between 6-15 years in close Arab society, in Libya. Setting: Eleven primary schools in the city and outpatient department in Ibn Senaa University Hospital, Sirte, Libya. Methods: Between March and April 2001 a cross-sectional study involving 7301 male pupils of age group between 6-15 years were screened for presence of undescended testes. Permission was sought from school principles. The pupils were belong to close tribal society with two major clans, the marriage is usually and exclusively within the clan and the people claimed descent from common ancestor. Pupils were placed in frog leg position for examination and the testes milked down to the scrotum to eliminate the possibility of retractile testes. The positive cases were informed to report to the outpatient department for treatment. Results: From the 7301 pupils screened, 172 were found to have undescended testes accounting for about 2.3%. The unilateralism form the majority of the positive cases with only slight deference between left and right. Cases of bilateralism were small in number. The percentage of the positive cases in each school ranging between 0.92% to 3.2%. Small number of positive cases associated with hernias and retractile testes in the sound side or hernias in the affected side, in less than one third of the positive cases the undescended testes were located in the inguinal canal and the majority of them were not palpable. Conclusion: Figures obtained from our study compared with other different studies in fostering the hypothesis of gradual increase in incidence of the cryptorchidism during the past decades. The prevalence of the cryptorchidism is variable specially in close and related society like that of our study.