EARLY REHABILITATION OF CRITICAL TESTICULAR ISCHEMIA WITH ACUTE TORSION IN CHILDREN
Authors: Veselyi M. , Veselyi S. 
Published: December 2021

Introduction. Acute testicular torsion is an urgent condition characterized by chorda spermatica turn and torsion with its vessels along vertical or horizontal axis. This condition results in testicular ischemia and loss of organ in case of lack of timely medical care. If a child is operated on within 6-12 hours their chance for complete recovery is decreased to 70 %. The timeline of 12-24 hours leaves only a 20% chance to keep a testicle. After 24 hours since the beginning of the condition there is virtually no chance to keep organ’s viability.

The goal of the research is an optimization of early rehabilitation of critical testicular  ischemia in children with acute testicular torsion. 

Material and methods. Over the period of the years 2010 – 2021 54 children with testicular torsion were observed and treated. Eight children got to a hospital as in-patients within first six hours from condition establishment, eight patients turned to a hospital within the period of 6.1-12 hours, 11 patients addressed hospital after 12.1-16 hours, 16 patients did so after 16.1-24 hours, and 11 patients addressed hospital after more than 24 hours since condition had been established.

All patients with testicular torsion were admitted to a hospital in an urgent manner, their general condition was assessed as "moderate". Time before surgery was limited (up to 1 hour from the moment of hospitalization). Therefore, the examination of patients was minimized by a general blood test, a general urine test (83.3 %), determination of blood group and Rh-factor, measuring arterial pressure.

A testicle was verified as viable in 12 children (22.2 %). Genital gland necrosis was diagnosed in 22 patients (40.8 %), they underwent orchophuniculectomia. Critical testicle ischemia was diagnosed in 20 boys (37 %).

All patients were operated on. In all cases operation started not later than an hour after hospitalization. For 45 children operation was performed via inguinal access (83.3 %), transscrotal access was used in 9 patients (16.7 %). In all cases when a testicle was viable invasive detorsion with further orchiopexy was used. All children who underwent testiculectomy were hospitalized later than 16 hours after the onset of the disease. All boys with critical testicle ischemia underwent rehabilitation measures during operation.

Results. Among children with genital gland critical ischemia 10 patients (52.6 %) recovered completely. Children who had been hospitalized during 6-12 hours after the onset of the disease were discharged from a hospital ward on the 5-7 day after operation. Two children (25 %) in this group had further testicle autolysis. Among children who addressed for healthcare support within 12–16 hours after the condition establishment, two patients (18.2 %) recovered completely. Five patients (50 %) had testicle autolysis in the postoperative period.

Conclusions. 1. Critical testicular ischemia is observed in 35.2 % children with acute testicular torsion. 2. Early rehabilitation measures include a complex of conservative and operational approaches implemented in pre-operational, intra-operational and early post-operational periods. 3. Timely and full-fledged rehabilitation measures implementation allows to improve results of operational treatment and save affected genital gland with critical ischemia in 50 % of patients.