Cryptorchidism of testicular germ-cell tumors, and psychological problems when the boy is grown. Undescended testes are also more susceptible to testicular torsion (and subsequent infarction) and inguinal hernias. Without intervention, an undescended testicle will usually descend during the first year of life, but to reduce these risks, undescended testes can be brought into the scrotum in infancy by a surgical procedure called an orchiopexy. Although cryptorchidism nearly always refers to congenital absence or maldescent, a testis observed in the scrotum in early infancy can occasionally "reascend" (move back up) into the inguinal canal. A testis which can readily move or be
Users' Guides to the Medical Literature guides to the medical literature, IX: a method for grading health care recommendations. JAMA, 274, pp. 1800–1804. Giacomini, M.K. & Cook, D.J., 2000. Users’ Guides to the Medical Literature: XXIII. Qualitative Research in Health Care A. Are the Results of the Study Valid? JAMA, 284(3), pp. 357–362. Available at: http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/doi/10.1001/jama.284.3.357 Giacomini, M.K. & Cook, D.J., 2000. Users’ Guides to the Medical Literature: XXIII. Qualitative Research in Health Care B. What Are the Results and How Do They Help Me Care for My Patients? JAMA, 284(4), pp. 478–482. Available at: http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/doi/10.1001/jama.284.4.478. Guyatt, G., Sackett, D. & Cook, D., 1993. Users’ guides