Can undescended testicle still produce sperm?
Jun 21st 2009adminPost vasectomy semen analysis
From John:-
I had a vasectomy Feb of 09. As a child, I had an undescended testicle until I had it operated on at the age of 7. When I had my vasectomy done, my doctor did not cut the vas on the testicle that was undescended because there was a lot of scar tissue and he was pretty sure that it was non-functional. 2 months after my vastectomy, I had my 1st test on my semen, which came back absent, but a week later, I had another test and there WAS sperm present. I would understand there was sperm present in my 1st test and absent on the 2nd, but I am a little puzzled by the 2nd one coming back positive for sperm. Is it possible that my testicle that was undescended as a child be somewhat functioning? Where it sometimes produces sperm and sometimes it doesn’t? Please let me know your opinion. Thank you.
Undescended testes (UDT) are usually considered as having poor function, but this is not universal and even very dystrophic testes will produce some sperm. UDT can intermittently produce enough sperm to be seen in the ejaculate. This may explain why sperm were seen on the second and not the first semen analysis. Unless a biopsy of the testicle has been performed demonstrating absent sperm production, UDT should also have the vasectomy procedure perfomed. Granted, this is a more difficult operation, but not impossible to perform by the experienced vasectomy surgeon.
