Report on the Patients Parents' Understanding and the Pediatricians' Understanding of Cryptorchidism: The Optimal Time for Surgical Correction / 대한비뇨기과학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Cryptorchidism is a common congenital anomaly seen in urology practice, and early diagnosis and treatment plays an important role in the prognosis of the disease. This survey was performed to discover how many parents and primary care physicians understand cryptorchidism from the aspect of the optimal time for surgical correction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 100 pediatricians and 200 parents of the patients who were operated on for treating cryptorchidism in Pusan National University Hospital (PNUH) between the years 2000 and 2004 were enrolled in this survey. We sent out survey letters and conducted individual counseling secessions with using questionnaires that consisted of 11 items for the parents and 12 items for the pediatricians. RESULTS: Most of the parents (62.7%) and a portion of the pediatricians (21.1%) preferred to operate beyond 2 years of age for treating cryptorchidism. For the pediatricians, there was no significant interconnection between the physicians' gender, the post-residentship interval, experience of employment, the practice duration, the necessity of hormonal therapy and the additional studies on the univariated and multivariated analyses (p>0.05). However, with a longer post-residentship interval and practice duration, the pediatricians tended to prefer delayed orchiopexy (p<0.05). For the parents, there was a significant relationship between paternal age, the parents' academic background and income level and the optimal operation time on both the univariated and multivariaged analyses (p<0.05). The younger parents, the more educated parents and the higher income parents showed earlier recognition of cryptorchidism and they preferred earlier orchiopexy (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The education programs and public activities targeting on the parents and the primary care physicians should be emphasized for achieving a better therapeutic outcome of cryptorchidism.