To assess the ability of the testes to secrete testosterone.
To investigate causes of testicular disorders:
- suspected anorchia
- anatomical or developmental defects of the testes
- enzyme defects of the testes
- following torsion.
Welcome to the Right Decision Service (RDS) newsletter for August 2024.
Following the recent RDS outages, Tactuum and the RDS team have been reviewing the learning from these incidents. We are committed to doing all we can to ensure a positive outcome by strengthening the RDS to make it fully robust and clinically resilient for the future.
We would like to invite you to a webinar on 26th September 3-4 pm on national and local contingency planning for future RDS outages. Tactuum and the RDS team will speak about our business continuity plans and the national contingency arrangements we are putting in place. This will also be a space to share local contingency plans, ideas and existing good practice. We would also like to gather your views on who we should send communications to in the event of future outages.
I have sent a meeting request for this date to all editors – please accept or decline to indicate attendance, and please forward on to relevant contacts. You can also contact Olivia.graham@nhs.scot directly to register your interest in participating.
2.National IV fluid prescribing calculator
This UK CA marked calculator is now live at https://righdecisions.scot.nhs.uk/ivfluids . It has been developed by a multiprofessional steering group of leads in IV fluids management, as part of the wider Modernising Patient Pathways Programme within the Centre for Sustainable Delivery. It aims to address a known cause of clinical error in hospital settings, and we hope it will be especially useful to the new junior doctors who started in August.
Please do spread the word about this new calculator and get in touch with any questions.
The following toolkits are now live;
We have updated and simplified this guidance within our standard operating procedures. We have clarified the guidance on how to determine whether an RDS tool is a medical device, and have provided an interactive powerpoint slideset to steer you through the process.
We have developed a guide to support editors and toolkit leads through the process of scoping, designing, delivering, quality assuring and implementing a new RDS toolkit. We hope this will help in project planning and in building shared understanding of responsibilities throughout the full development process. The guide emphasises that the project does not end with launch of the new toolkit. Implementation, communication and evaluation are ongoing activities throughout the lifetime of the toolkit.
To book a place, please contact Olivia.graham@nhs.scot, providing your name, organisation, job role, and level of experience with RDS editing (none, a little, moderate, extensive.)
7 Evaluation projects
Dr Stephen Biggart from NHS Lothian has kindly shared with us the results of a recent survey of use of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh Anaesthesia toolkit. This shows that the majority of consultants are using it weekly or monthly, mainly to access clinical protocols, with a secondary purpose being education and training purposes. They tend to find information by navigating by specialty rather than keyword searching, and had some useful recommendations for future development, such as access to quick reference guidance.
We’d really appreciate you sharing any other local evaluations of RDS in this way – it all helps to build the evidence base for impact.
If you have any questions about the content of this newsletter, please contact his.decisionsupport@nhs.scot If you would prefer not to receive future newsletters, please email Olivia.graham@nhs.scot and ask to be removed from the circulation list.
With kind regards
Right Decision Service team
Healthcare Improvement Scotland
(From the Scottish DSD Network)
In the normal male child HCG increases testicular secretion of testosterone. This test examines the capacity of Leydig cells to respond to HCG and secrete testosterone. See figure 1 below to calculate an external masculinisation score. More detailed guidance on specific investigations required can be found on the Scottish Differences of Sex Development website.
For investigation of gonadal function, the standard hCG stimulation test performed over one week is sufficient in many cases, but some cases may require prolonged hCG stimulation. The prolonged hCG stimulation test may be a useful means of investigating the endocrine gonadal axis after infancy when the testes are nascent. The test may also aid the descent of the undescended testes which are not completely impalpable.
The timing of the tests is important, and the results may be influenced by age and the test may influence surgical and medical management.
If both gonads have never been palpable or detected, a karyotype should be sought before embarking on the hCG test, particularly in the apparent boy with premature virilization.
Figure1:
Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hCG) 1500 units.
Intramuscularly.
After baseline bloods taken.
Week1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | >Week 8 | ||||||
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Monday | Thursday | Monday | Thursday | Monday | ||
Examine: | ||||||||||
Stretched penile length | ![]() |
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Testes location | ![]() |
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Clinic review | ![]() |
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Administer: | ||||||||||
hCG 1500iu, i.m. | ![]() |
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Measure: | ||||||||||
Karyotype 3 | ![]() |
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DNA 3 | ![]() |
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AMH 3 | ![]() |
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Urine steroid profile 3 | ![]() |
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Androstenedione 2 | ![]() |
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DHT 2 | ![]() |
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DHEAS 2 | ![]() |
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Testosterone 1 | ![]() |
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SHBG 1 | ![]() |
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A short hCG test is usually done on day 1 and day 4. Samples can also be taken on day 5 in addition, if there are any issues with the day 4 sample.
1 Serum for Testosterone is very important; SHBG is much less important, particularly in infants.
2 These androgens are listed in order of priority with Androstenedione being most important.
3 These samples should preferably be collected on the first day but can be collected on any visit
Clinical assessment for stretched penile length and testes location may have been carried out prior to hCG test referral and therefore not required on day 1.
All children with a DSD should have an ultrasound scan of the renal tracts.
Interpretation of the results can be difficult.
The results should be discussed with a paediatric endocrinologist.
Arrange endocrine clinic follow-up for 6 weeks after the completion of investigations.
Some children with a poor testosterone response to hCG may require further assessment of adrenal function.