Testicular Torsion – Causes

Transcript

To understand testicular torsion, first, a brief anatomy lesson is necessary. During development in the womb, the two testicles actually start up very high up in the abdomen, near the kidneys, and they make a slow journey. As they descend down to their final location, eventually in the scrotum as they do that, they carry their blood supply down still from its original location. And that develops into a long rope like structure that is called the spermatic cord. And simply it contains the arteries, veins, nerves, and live channels that are necessary for the testicle to stay alive. And normally the testicle has a slippery, outer coating, and it lives right next to a slippery membrane. And so normally the testicle can slide from side to side a little bit. Some people are born with anatomical changes that make it prone for the testicle to turn too much. And this can cause testicular torsion. Imagine a rubber band twisted around and around and around many times. Areas where it’s twisted or pinched off. If the testicle makes too many twists, that rope like structure called the spermatic cord gets pinched or choked off blocking blood supply to the testicle. This is a critical emergency situation. Now that you understand a little bit about the anatomy, the whole process can make a little bit more sense.