We aimed to determine the effects of unilateral testicular torsion on the contralateral testis and to evaluate different treatment approaches. Forty pubertal Sprague Downey rats were randomized into 8 groups (Five in each group). In the control group (Group 1), the sham operation was performed. In Group 2, the left testis underwent torsion and was returned to the scrotum. In the other groups, the left testis underwent torsion at 720o counterclockwise and was fixed to the scrotum wall. Then the surgical procedures like detorsion (Group 3, 24 hours later) and orchiectomy (Group 4, 24 hours later and Group 5, 48 hours later); intraperitoneal prednisolone injection in addition to orchiectomy (Group 6, 24 hours later and group 8, 48 hours later), and intraperitoneal prednisolone injection in addition to detorsion (Group 7, 24 hours later) were performed. All the contralateral testes were removed 4 weeks after the torsion and evaluated histopathologically. We observed degeneration at varying intensities in contralateral testes of all groups except for the control group. We found a significant difference in the diameters of seminiferous tubules of the contralateral testes in Groups 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8 compared with the control group. In Groups 6 and 7, no significant changes were observed in the diameters of seminiferous tubules of the contralateral testes, and hyperemia, edema and degeneration were less prominent. We demonstrated that the histopathological damage can be prevented by prednisolone even in the detorsioned group by suppressing the immunologic response.

Keywords: Contralateral testis, histopathology, rat, testicular torsion