Laparoscopic Management of Undescended Testis: Results and Outcomes in a Pediatric Population

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the results of the laparoscopic treatment of high and intra-abdominal undescended testes. Methods: A retrospective study was carried out from 2014 to 2021 at the Centre medico-chirugicale d’urologie in Douala. We consulted the clinical records of 27 patients aged 6 - 15 years who underwent laparoscopic orchiopexy at our hospital. We included patients with unilateral or bilateral undescended testes as detected by palpation and excluded patients with incomplete clinical records. The data collected were entered into Microsoft Excel 2016 and exported to Epi info 7 for analysis. Continuous variables were presented as mean values and standard deviations while categorical variables were presented as frequencies and percentages. The threshold for statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: The ages of the 27 participants ranged from 6 years to 15 years, with a mean age of 10.22 ± 2.68 years. Hypospadias was an associated abnormality in 7.41% of participants. The mean duration of the surgical procedure was 80.56 ± 30.30 minutes. The overall success rate of the laparoscopic procedure was 95.83%. The mean duration of postoperative hospital stay was 26.67 ± 7.69 hours. The only postoperative complication we encountered was testicular atrophy, which occurred in 7.41% of participants. All our patients underwent single-stage laparoscopic procedures. Conclusion: Laparoscopy, which is the technique of choice for the diagnosis and management of undescended testis, is more rapid, more effective, and characterized by a shorter hospital stay and fewer postoperative complications compared to open surgery. Single-stage procedures are as effective and safe as two-stage procedures.