62676-2

LOINC code 62676-2 identifies "PhenX - testes development protocol 101501". A physician uses an orchidometer to measure testes size and determine the onset of puberty and later pubertal development. The orchidometer beads, which are of increasing volume from 1 ml to 25 ml are compared with the size of the subject's testicles. The examiner is careful to only include testicular tissue in the comparison. The orchidometer, a series of ellipsoids of increasing volume, are used to determine testes size. Each testis is measured with the patient standing in a warm room. The ellipsoid is held up to each isolated testis and a measurement is estimated, making sure not to include the epididymis in the measurement. One measurement is adequate, but it never hurts to do more than once (Prader A., 1966, 1975). The testicular examination requires two hands and should be performed in a warm room. The hands may be lubricated with surgical lubricant or warm, soapy water if necessary. The patient is supine. One hand is placed near the anterior superior iliac spine and the other on the scrotum. The first hand is swept from the anterior iliac spine along the inguinal canal to gently express any retained testicular tissue into the scrotum. A true undescended or ectopic inguinal testis may slide or "pop" under the examiner's fingers during this maneuver. A low ectopic or retractile testis will be felt by the second hand as the testis is milked into the scrotum by the first hand.(Cooper and Docimo 2010; Drutz 2010). Examination of older children and adult testes is routinely performed in the standing position. Examination of adults with a suspected undescended testis should be done in both the supine and standing positions with adequate cremasteric relaxation to differentiate true UDT or ectopic testes from retractile testes (Eyre 2010).

This code measures PhenX - testes development protocol 101501 in ^Patient. It belongs to the PANEL.PHENX class in the LOINC classification.

LOINC (Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes) is a universal standard for identifying laboratory and clinical observations. It is maintained by the Regenstrief Institute and used worldwide for health data exchange.