The behavior of epididymis, processus vaginalis and testicular descent in cryptorchid boys treated with buserelin

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) and Buserelin, published as a randomized controlled trial.

Fifty-nine true cryptorchid boys were randomly assigned to 3 groups: buserelin treatment [22], surgical treatment [18] or placebo control group [19].

The 3 groups of patients were similar before treatment in regard to testicular position, chronological and bone age, height and weight, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, testosterone, penile size and the volume of the contralateral descended testis.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 3 patients taking part.

PubMed indexes the participants as children, men only.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Neither the patients nor the staff measuring them knew who was on hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin), so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) could be set against what happens without it.

What Was Measured

The 3 groups of patients were similar before treatment in regard to testicular position, chronological and bone age, height and weight, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, testosterone, penile size and the volume of the contralateral descended testis.

None of the patients had retractile testes.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Buserelin, Chorionic Gonadotropin, Cryptorchidism, Epididymis, Peritoneum and Testis.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) and Buserelin in 3 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The publication is from 1993 (European journal of pediatrics), a journal based in Germany.

More context: the hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) compound page and the Buserelin compound page, all human trials.