Testicle atrophy

The testicle atrophy is defined by regressive changes that diminishes testis size, is also called zi wei (in mandarin, literally means diminishing of child); it is uni- or bilateral testicle involvement, small and soft in characteristic, the majority can cause sterile, mainly caused by parotitis or external trauma, may also be congenital. Many cases happened due to kidney qi (vital energy) insufficiency, or due to illnesses and trauma. The congenital testicle maldevelopment is not easy to cure, as well as continuous testicle atrophy also needs patience to recuperate and to treat; the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can obtain certain effect in diagnosis and treatment.
 
   Main point of diagnosis: TCM called it 'zi wei'. The reasons are congenital, insufficient of kidney Qi , nutritive loses of testis; or contracted zi yong (testicular sore) firstly and not healed completely, thus causing testis and liver depression, then blood vessels rupture and blood stagnate, resulting in testicle atrophy.

 Clinical manifestations: can see uni- or bilateral testicle atrophy, they are small and soft, occasionally is hard, or slight swelling pain. Moreover, the patient may also have varying degree of secondory sexual characteristic hypoplasia, e.g breast growth (gynecomastia), puberty growth delays, even appears the male feminization. At present, we often use the international testicle measuring instrument to check testicle size or volume, Chinese s testicle size range is 15 - 25; thus smaller than 12 is diagnosed as 'testicle atrophy' clinically. Other than that, one must also pay attention to the testicle features; if injury is severe, the seminal fluid inspection is carried out, but it is still the most accurate to diagnose by testicle biopsy.

   The modern medicine believed that there is two factors of atrophy-- congenital or acquired. Congenital, such as undescended testis, congenital anomalies and etc; acquired, such as testicle external trauma, inverted testis, inflammation, tumor and so on. Moreover, senile, long-term high fever, vitamin deficiency, the liver cirrhosis, the thyroid function insufficiency, pituitary disorders, hypothalamus disorders also can cause testicle atrophy; systemic infections can spread to testis hematogenously, causing other complications, e.g chicken pox, malaria, syphilis, infectious mononucleosis, worm diseases and etc; moreover, the testicle radioactivity injury is a permanent damage to the embryonic epithelium, the duct has only the Sertoli cell, it undergoes progressive atrophy and hardening of the basal membrane, thus also may cause this disease.