Epididymal abnormalities associated with maldescent of the testis.

A prospective series of 118 consecutive patients admitted for exploration of the groin is reviewed. Seven patients were excluded from the study; the remaining 111 patients had among them a total of 132 maldescended testes. These were classified as either truly undescended testes associated with a complete hernial sac, undescended testes with no hernial sac, or ectopic testes. All testes were examined at operation and the incidence of associated epididymal abnormalities was noted. Four main types of epididymal abnormality are described and a classification is suggested. These abnormalities may contribute to impaired fertility despite orchidopexy, particularly in the group of patients with truly undescended testes associated with a hernial sac where the incidence of epididymal abnormalities was high (75%) compared with an incidence of 20% in the other two groups.