Delayed and incidental diagnosis of transverse testicular ectopia.

Transverse testicular ectopia is a rare malformation in which both testes are placed in the same inguinal region. Most of the patients are diagnosed incidentally during inguinal exploration. We here report three cases of transverse testicular ectopia and discuss the causes of delayed and incidental diagnosis of this infrequent malformation. Although the mean age at presentation was reported as 4 years, the mean age of our patients was 7.7 months. We detected the contralateral testis in the inguinal canal in all of our patients preoperatively. The most important diagnostic criteria are to be aware of this rare malformation and getting suspicious in patients with one side inguinal hernia and an empty hemiscrotum on the other side. It is essential to perform an ultrasound scan in patients with such a clinical presentation.