Free testicular transfer
Patients born with undescended testis are subject to an increased risk of testicular cancer as well as problems with fertility. Conventional paediatric surgical techniques can help the majority.
In a small number of cases the testicle cannot be brought into the scrotum using conventional techniques. In the United States a technique was introduced in which the testicle is freed in the abdomen and disconnected from its blood supply and then using microsurgical techniques reattached to a local blood supply close to the scrotum, thus allowing delivery into its correct position.
In 1999 I collaborated with a paediatric surgery colleague to treat patients in this way. This is a team effort in which the paediatric surgeon carries out the first half of the operation and I follow with the microsurgical repositioning. The operation can take anything between four and eight hours and the typical age of the patients is 2 to 3 years old.
In the UK this service is currently only carried out by our team.
Our early results were presented to the British Association of Plastic Surgeons Summer Meeting in France in July 2007.
In a small number of cases the testicle cannot be brought into the scrotum using conventional techniques. In the United States a technique was introduced in which the testicle is freed in the abdomen and disconnected from its blood supply and then using microsurgical techniques reattached to a local blood supply close to the scrotum, thus allowing delivery into its correct position.
In 1999 I collaborated with a paediatric surgery colleague to treat patients in this way. This is a team effort in which the paediatric surgeon carries out the first half of the operation and I follow with the microsurgical repositioning. The operation can take anything between four and eight hours and the typical age of the patients is 2 to 3 years old.
In the UK this service is currently only carried out by our team.
Our early results were presented to the British Association of Plastic Surgeons Summer Meeting in France in July 2007.
