What is Anorchism - Definition, Symptoms, Causes, Treatment

The anorchism is an uncommon case, where a boy child is born with only one or no testes at all. But, in a normal case, embryo normally starts the development of the sex organ after few weeks of fertilization. In humans, the sex organ is expected to develop within 8 weeks, if not, the baby will come with female genitalia.

So, between 8 to 10 weeks if male child loses the testes, the child will come with ambiguous genitalia which is part male and part female genital. However, if after the 14 weeks the male child lost the testes the baby will be born with male genital except the testes and the condition is what is known as Anorchism.

• Anorchism Definition
• Anorchism Symptom
• Anorchism Causes
• Anorchism Treatment

Anorchism Definition

The anorchism is defined as medical condition in which there is bilateral or unilateral absence of the testes. This particular condition may be present at as a genitalia anatomy which is present during birth. It can also come as a result of secondary factors like castration, trauma and others.

Since the testes plays vital roles in the body of male, mostly when it comes to secondary characteristics regulation. The testes do not only act as androgen producing cells but also help to hasten the production of sperm. That means without testes, there will be sexual dysfunction where by the person will not be able to produce sperm needed for reproduction.

Anorchism Symptom

When you have a male child with undescended testes, you should look out for the following symptoms before going ahead to suspect that your child have this condition. The possible symptoms to look out for include:

•    Absents of one or both testes
•    Unable to attain puberty
•    Lack of evidence of secondary sex characteristics
•    Lack of hairs on the legs, face, arms and pubis
•    Voices that still sound like that of a child
•    Non-muscular thin body
•    Accumulation of more fat instead of muscle
•    lack of growth
•    Uneven hip to waist ratio
•    Breast presence (gynecomastia)

Anorchism Causes

What are the possible causes of anorchism? It is mostly caused by genetic defect. Despite the fact that genetic mutation is known to be the highest contender to this medical condition, the exact cause is yet to be identifiable. There are other diseases known to contribute in causing this condition. The diseases are as follows: Cryptorchism whish is known as undecided testes during birth. The vanishing testes syndrome and sawyer syndrome are among the major diseases known to cause this terrible medical condition. There are many other possible factors said to cause this medical condition but most of them lack scientific support or evidence.

Anorchism Treatment

If your child has this medical condition, you should not just continue to worry thinking there is no solution as there are some effective underlying treatment. The number one treatment option to this anorchism is lifelong androgen supplementation. This is due to the fact that the testes needed to produce androgen are absent. The supplement can be applied externally.

Another treatment is hormonal therapy which normally comes with physical improvement as sign that there is improvement in the treatment. If the above mentioned treatment did not work in restoring the body to the normalcy for the production of androgen need to produce sperm there will be need for surgery to find out the cause of undescended testes.