Spontaneous alterations in position of the testes.

The treatment of undescended testes in infancy and childhood, and the timing of treatment have been reviewed recently by Johnston (1965) and by the Brit. med. J. (1965). From a practical point of view, it is important to know, (1) the incidence of undescended testes in the newbom, and (2) the spontaneous alterations in position of the testes during infancy and childhood. With regard to the first of these questions, we have reported an incidence of undescended testes at birth of 17% among premature and 1 8% among full-term boys (Buemann, Henriksen, Villumsen, Westh, and Zachau-Christiansen, 1961). These figures are similar to those reported by Scorer (1957). The aim of the present paper is to report spontaneous alterations in the position of testes, during the first 3 years of life, among 4,500 boys who are included in the Copenhagen University Hospital investigation of the influence of pregnancy and delivery upon the health and development of the child.