Testicular morphological damage in young rats after inguinotomy with vascular trauma

Background/PurposeOperations for the treatment of inguinal diseases are the most frequent in childhood. Bleeding owing to trauma to the spermatic vessels is frequent and can cause testicular atrophy. The goal of this work was to determine the effects of the trauma to the spermatic vessels in the prepubertal and postpubertal histopathologic alterations in an experimental model in Wistar rats.MethodsEighty albino Wistar rats were divided in 4 groups for the histopathologic analysis. In group A, they were submitted to digital compression of the spermatic vessels for 45 seconds; in group B, the spermatic vessels were clamped with hemostats for 5 seconds; in group C, the spermatic vessels were cauterized for 2 seconds. Group D was the control group, in which the animals were submitted to inguinotomy solely.ResultsThe prepubertal histopathologic alterations were significantly decreased in group A for testicular weight (0.97 ± 0.10); in group B, for testicular weight (0.81 ± 0.24), testicular volume (0.522 ± 0.192), and mean testicular biopsy score (7.2 ± 2.7); and in group C, for the 5 parameters studied, testicular weight (0.69 ± 0.28), testicular weight per 100 g of body weight (0.498 ± 0.188), testicular volume (0.765 ± 0.308), mean seminiferous tubular diameter (236.6 ± 62.5), and mean testicular biopsy score (6.9 ± 3.1). The postpubertal histopathologic alterations were not significant for any of the 5 parameters studied, in the 3 groups.ConclusionsThe prepubertal histopathologic alterations were more intense in the group submitted to cauterization of the spermatic vessels, intermediate in the group submitted to clamping of the spermatic vessels with hemostats, and less severe in the rats submitted to digital compression of the spermatic vessels. The postpubertal histopathologic alterations demonstrated the capability of the young testicle to recuperate from a vascular trauma.