The Role of Cremaster Muscle as a Cause of Ascending Testis after Inguinal Hernia/Hydrocele Repair

Ascending testis (AT) is one of the rare but serious complication that may occurs following inguinal hernia/hydrocele repair. We aimed to review our more than 7 years’ experience and discuss the possible mechanism through which the AT possibly occurs following inguinal hernia/hydrocele repair.
A retrospective analysis of 7,212 boys who had undergone inguinal hernia/hydrocele repair between March 2009 and April 2016 was conducted. Exclusion criteria were: undescended testis, misdiagnosed AT, and retractile testis. Two types of surgical procedures were performed based on the medical records: (1) transection of the hernia sac and processus vaginalisalone and (2) isolation of the vas deferens and testicular vessels and a global transection of the remaining structures. Subsequently, post-operative incidence of AT was compared across variables extracted from the medical records.
Sixteen (0.22%) patients were diagnosed with AT post operatively. AT incidence after inguinal hernia/hydrocele repair was reported in approximately 0.19% of the entire patient sample (in the 8491 hernia/hydrocele repairs). Comparison of AT incidence with the age at initial operation showed significant increase at the age of one year or less (P =0.017). In addition, AT incidence was significantly higher in the patients for whom only the sac/processus vaginalis was transected rather than the patients who underwent hernia/hydrocele repair with isolation of the vas deferens and testicular vessels (0.06% vs. 0.27%, respectively, P =0.023). Other subgroup analyses remained non-significant.
We conclude that transection of the cremaster muscle might decrease the incidence of ascending testis following inguinal hernia/ hydrocele repair.