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Review
. 2023 Jan 13;12(2):649.
doi: 10.3390/jcm12020649.

Polyorchidism: An Up-to-Date Systematic Review

Krzysztof Balawender  1 , Agata Wawrzyniak  2 , Józef Kobos  3 , Michał Golberg  3 , Andrzej Żytkowski  4   5 , Michał Zarzecki  6 , Jerzy Walocha  6 , Michał Bonczar  6 , Andrzej Dubrowski  6 , Agata Mazurek  6 , Edward Clarke  7 , Michał Polguj  7 , Grzegorz Wysiadecki  7 , Anna Smędra  8
Affiliations
Review

Polyorchidism: An Up-to-Date Systematic Review

Krzysztof Balawender et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Polyorchidism is a rare male urogenital tract anomaly characterized by at least one supernumerary testis in the scrotum or ectopically. According to data based on our systematic review, 76% of the supernumerary testes (SNTs) were located in the scrotum, and 24% were extra-scrotal (p < 0.001). Among testes located outside the scrotum, 87% were found in the inguinal canal and 13% in the abdominal cavity. In 80% of cases, the diagnosis of SNT was made based on imaging tests, and the remaining 20% of cases were detected incidentally during surgery. The imaging tests performed (US or MRI) resulted in a significantly higher rate of patients who qualified for observation vs. surgical treatment (45% vs. 35%, p < 0.001). The most common conditions associated with SNT were ipsilateral inguinal hernia (15% of cases) and cryptorchidism (15% of cases). Surgery (orchidopexy/orchidectomy) was performed on 54% of patients with SNT, and the decision to observe the SNT was made in a total of 46% of patients (p = 0.001). The therapeutic approach depends on the location of the SNT and the presence of factors that raise suspicion of neoplastic proliferation.

Keywords: anatomical anomalies; gonads; polyorchidism; supernumerary testis; urogenital system; urology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The PRISMA flow diagram.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Linear (red curve) and quadratic (blue curve) effects of age on the score level of the variable “supernumerary testis length [mm]”.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Proposed therapeutic algorithm for polyorchidism. Adopted from Balawender et al. [61] under Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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