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Effect of adjunctive hormonal therapy on testicular descent and spermatogenic function among children with cryptorchidism: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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Abstract

Objectives

To systematically evaluate the effect of adjunctive hormonal therapy on testicular descent and spermatogenic function among children with cryptorchidism.

Methods

A comprehensive literature search of electronic databases up to February 21, 2019 was performed. Continuous data of fertility indices were evaluated using weighted mean difference (WMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI), while nominal data of fertility indices and the complete descent rates were analyzed by risk ratio (RR) with 95% CI. A fixed effect or random effect model was used.

Results

A total of 27 previous studies were included for the current analysis. Hormonal therapy increased complete testicular descent rate, reaching statistical significance (RR = 3.74; 95% CI, 2.78–5.04; P < 0.001). The success rate was 22.43%. A similar result was found in subgroup analysis of hormonal category and effect on unilateral or bilateral cryptorchidism. Studies reporting primary outcome as continuous data showed that cryptorchid males have significantly increased germ cell numbers per tubule (WMD = 0.10; 95% CI, 0.01–0.20, P = 0.032) after hormonal therapy. The nominal data of pooled studies showed no significant difference (RR = 1.62; 95% CI, 0.65–4.00, P = 0.298). In addition, a significant result was noted in the luteinizing hormone–releasing hormone (LHRH) therapy group but not in those undergoing human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) treatment.

Conclusions

Our findings have demonstrated that hormonal therapy can effectively increase the success rate of complete testicular descent, while some boys may benefit as regards improvement of the fertility index.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Medical University (AHMU) (Grant no. 2019xkj082).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, Anhui Provincial Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

    Kaiping Zhang, Yin Zhang & Min Chao

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  1. Kaiping Zhang
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  2. Yin Zhang
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  3. Min Chao
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Contributions

Kaiping Zhang: study conception and design and manuscript revision for important intellectual content. Yin Zhang and Min Chao: data analysis, interpretation, and manuscript draft. Kaiping Zhang and Min Chao: data acquisition, literature search, and statistical analysis.

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Correspondence to Min Chao.

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The study was only a systematic review and meta-analysis; hence, no informed consent was required.

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Zhang, K., Zhang, Y. & Chao, M. Effect of adjunctive hormonal therapy on testicular descent and spermatogenic function among children with cryptorchidism: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Hormones 20, 119–129 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42000-020-00244-4

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