The relationship between cerebral palsy and cryptorchidism

Abstract

This study examined the reported association between cerebral palsy and cryptorchidism. A comparison was made among 25 boys with cerebral palsy under the age of 2 years and 6 months, 25 boys with cerebral palsy aged between 5 and 10 years, and age-matched controls. The testes remained in the same position with age in boys with cerebral palsy, whereas in normal children the testes were slightly lower initially (P less than .005) and became lower still with growth (P less than .001). This result, taken in conjunction with previous studies, casts doubts on the theories of early damage to the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis as the cause of maldescent in cerebral palsy. It is postulated that any apparent increase in cryptorchidism in older patients with cerebral palsy may be caused by spasticity of the cremaster muscle leading to pathologic retraction of the testis out of the scrotum.