EFFICACY OF SINGLE STAGE FOWLER STEPHEN ORCHIDOPEXY IN MANAGING IMPALPABLE UNDESCENDED TESTIS

Background: Undescended testis is the most common congenital anomaly encountered in children. There is no single successful surgical treatment option, so various surgical procedures are practiced to treat this anomaly. We have used single stage Fowler Stephen Orchiopexy (FSO) to show the success rate in our circumstances. Material & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Department of Surgery, District Head Quarter Teaching Hospital Bannu from October 2012 to October 2014 (two years duration). Patients were admitted through outpatient department and detailed history, clinical examination and necessary investigations were carried out. Informed consent was taken. Patients more than 12 years, torsion testis and gangrene testis were excluded from the study. Children between age 6 months to twelve years presenting with impalpable undescended testis were included in the study. The results were analyzed using SPSS version 7. Results: The total number of patients were 40, in which orchidopexy was performed by single stage FSO during the two years period. Thirty nine (97.5%) patients were unilateral; one patient (2.5%) was bilateral. All these cases were treated by single stage FSO. Age ranged from 6 months to 12 years. Two testes (5%) retracted to inguinal canal which needed secondary surgery. Three testes (15%) developed atrophy. One case (2.5%) developed hematoma and two (5%) wound infection of the scrotal skin. Patients follow up was done at 10 days postoperatively, one month and 6 months. The overall success rate was 87.5%. Conclusion: Fowler Stephen orchidopexy (single stage) is an effective procedure which can be easily adopted in our circumstances.