Abstract
Undescended testis, i.e., cryptorchidism, implies failure of testicular descent into the scrotum with concomitant abnormality in testicular development. It represents an important clinical entity because of its close association with infertility and testicular malignancy. Abnormalities in anatomical and hormonal factors involved in embryogenesis and testicular descent may all have a role in the etiology of cryptorchidism, though the exact mechanism is not fully understood. The diagnosis of the entity depends mainly on laparoscopy and the role of imaging is controversial, though diagnostic imaging has been considered to be helpful particularly for the evaluation of patients with a nonpalpable undescended testis. US is the most common diagnostic imaging study employed in the evaluation of cryptorchidism. The technique is accepted as the first step after clinical evaluation, whereas MRI has been proposed as the modality of choice preoperatively when US findings are negative.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge our sincere thanks to Tarkan Soygür, MD for his providing Figs. 1, 2, and 4 and Suat Fitöz, MD for his providing Fig. 8.
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Ă–zden, E., Turgut, A.T., Dogra, V.S. (2011). Imaging the Undescended Testis. In: Bertolotto, M., Trombetta, C. (eds) Scrotal Pathology. Medical Radiology(). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/174_2011_195
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/174_2011_195
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