Abstract
Purpose
To assess the efficacy of intranasal luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) therapy for cryptorchidism.
Materials and methods
Eligible studies were identified by two reviewers using PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases. Primary outcomes were complete testicular descent rate, complete testicular descent rate for nonpalpable testis, and pre-scrotal and inguinal testis. Secondary outcomes included testicular descent with different medicines strategy and a subgroup analysis.
Results
Pooled data including the 1255 undescended testes showed that complete testicular descent rate was 20.9 % in LHRH group versus 5.6 % in the placebo group, which was significantly different [relative risk (RR) 3.94, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 2.14–7.28, P < 0.0001]. There was also a significant difference in the incidence of pre-scrotal and inguinal position testis descent, with 22.8 % in the LHRH group versus 3.6 % in the placebo group (RR 5.79, 95 % CI 2.94–11.39, P < 0.00001). However, side effects were more frequent in the LHRH group (RR 2.61, 95 % CI 1.52–4.49, P = 0.0005). There were no significant differences for nonpalpable testes.
Conclusions
LHRH had significant benefits on testicular descent, particularly for inguinal and pre-scrotal testes, which was also accompanied by temporary slight side effects.
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Abbreviations
- LHRH:
-
Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone
- CO:
-
Cryptorchidism
- RCTs:
-
Randomized controlled trials
- CCT:
-
Clinical controlled trial
- RR:
-
Relative risk
- CI:
-
Confidence interval
- FSH:
-
Follicle-stimulating hormone
- LH:
-
Luteinizing hormone
- CGRP:
-
Calcitonin gene-related peptide
- HCG:
-
Human chorionic gonadotropin
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Acknowledgments
Dr. Yang was supported by the Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award 2013, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 81300627, 81370855, and 30901484), and the Programs from the Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province (Grants 2013SZ0006 and 2014JY0219).
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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors as this is a meta-analysis.
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Tao Li and Liang Gao have contributed equally to this work.
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Li, T., Gao, L., Chen, P. et al. A systematic review and meta-analysis of comparative studies assessing the efficacy of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone therapy for children with cryptorchidism. Int Urol Nephrol 48, 635–644 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-016-1235-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-016-1235-x