Testicular appendages: incidence and clinical significance

Abstract

Testicular appendages are important clinically when they undergo torsion, the peak incidence of this event occurring in early adolescence. The incidence of testicular appendages has previously been reported by Jones [2] and Rolnick et al. [3], but these series included cadavers of unstated age.

This study prospectively examined live subjects for the presence of appendages at risk of subsequently developing torsion. Eighty-six consecutive patients undergoing elective orchidopexy had a total of 100 testes examined for the presence of an appendage; at least 1 was found to be present in 87% of cases. The risk of subsequent torsion of an appendage following orchidopexy is small, but we recommend that during orchidopexy a search for an appendage should be made, and if present and pedunculated, it should be excised electively. This can easily be achieved with minimal additional operating time and no morbidity.