They are the very vital part of the male anatomy which - at least when it comes to health checks - may not always get the attention they deserve.
This is despite the fact that around 2,500 men a year in the UK are diagnosed with testicular cancer, many in their 20s and 30s. It is caused when one or both testicles are not secured properly from birth to the bottom and back of the scrotum . ‘Any male who gets acute testicle pain should go straight to A&E – don’t bother calling NHS 111 ,’ says Gordon Muir, a consultant urological surgeon and andrologist at King’s College Hospital and the private Cadogan Clinic in London.For the operation, performed under general anaesthetic, surgeons cut into the scrotum to reposition the twisted testicle. They then fix it in place with stitches so it doesn’t happen again.
However, they can reduce sperm production, affecting a man’s fertility when he gets older. Studies show 10 to 20 per cent of men who have a varicocele have difficulty fathering a child. These form a barrier to stop any more blood flowing into the damaged vein, so it collapses and dies off – and the varicocele disappears. Blood can then continue moving smoothly back towards the lungs via other healthy blood vessels.Attached to each testicle is a tightly coiled tube called the epididymis. This is where sperm cells are stored to finish maturing once they have moved out of the testicles.
But epididymitis can also be due to an injury or a blow to the testicles, or a build-up of pressure inside the tube that can occur after a vasectomy – a procedure to sterilise men by cutting and sealing the tubes that carry sperm out of the body.