retractile testes

Posted By Martha on February 16, 1999 at 12:32:22:







I have been to a pediatric urologist about my 14 month old's retractile testes.  After a quick exam, he said the protocol was not to treat but to re-check every year until puberty, at which time he would need surgery if they were not permanently descended.  I still worry about infertility...if the testes are hardly ever descended, as my sons are, how can the heat inside the body cavity not be an issue?  Also, I read that some urologists differentiate between gliding and retractile testes, with a gliding testicle being one that glides right back up after being brought into the scrotum and a retractile being one that stays down for a few seconds.  The article said that gliding testes should be treated with surgery.  This was a Canadian document.  Are American physicians undertreating retractile testes?  Am I concerned over nothing?  Also, I have no proof, but I seem to recall that his testes were usually descended much more frequently, or even all the time, when he was younger than they are now.