[Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography of testicular tumours]

EAU-ESPU pediatric urology guidelines on testicular tumors in prepubertal boys

BACKGROUND

Testicular tumors in prepubertal boys account for 1-2% of all solid pediatric tumors. They have a lower incidence, a different histologic distribution and are more often benign compared to testicular tumors in the adolescent and adult group. This fundamental difference should also lead to a different approach and treatment.

OBJECTIVE

To provide a guideline for diagnosis and treatment options in prepubertal boys with a testicular mass.

METHOD

A structured literature search and review for testicular tumors in prepubertal boys was performed. All English abstracts up to the end of 2019 were screened, and relevant papers were obtained to create the guideline.

RESULTS

A painless scrotal mass is the most common clinical presentation. For evaluation, high resolution ultrasound has a detection rate of almost 100%, alpha-fetoprotein is a tumor marker, however, is age dependent. Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) was not a tumor marker for testis tumors in prepubertal boys.

CONCLUSION

Based on a summary of the literature on prepubertal testis tumors, the 2021 EAU guidelines on Pediatric Urology recommend a partial orchiectomy as the primary approach in tumors with a favorable preoperative ultrasound diagnosis.

The Application Value of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound in Testicular Occupied Lesions

Objective

To discuss the clinical application value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in testicular occupied lesions.

Methods

Nine conventional-ultrasound-found testicular occupied lesions which underwent CEUS meantime were analyzed retrospectively. The CEUS perfusion pattern was compared with the surgical pathological result or follow-up findings.

Results

Among all the 9 testicular occupied lesions, there were 5 testicular malignant tumors, 1 testicular benign tumor, 1 testicular tuberculosis, and 2 testicular hematomas. CEUS diagnosed 6 testicular malignant tumors, 1 testicular benign tumor, and 2 testicular hematomas, and its diagnostic accuracy was about 88.9%.

Conclusion

CEUS has high clinical application value in the differential diagnoses of benign and malignant testicular occupied lesions.

[Testicular tumors in prepubertal boys-organ preservation possible more often than expected]

In prepubertal boys, testicular tumors are rare with an incidence between 2 and 5/million. In contrast to testicular tumors in adolescents and adults, more than 2/3 of these tumors are benign. Unfortunately, in Germany in most cases, only malignant tumors (usually yolk sac tumors) are reported to the study center (MAKEI IV and now V). Therefore, the incidence in Germany is unknown. Since the introduction of polychemotherapy in the 1970s, the prognosis of malignant testicular tumors has improved enormously and has become a curable disease, even in the case of recurrence. Today the orchiectomy, which was usually carried out in the past, appears to be no longer justified in most prepubertal boys due to the high incidence of benign tumors. It has been shown in various studies that organ-sparing surgery in germ cell tumors (epidermoid cysts, teratoma); gonadal stoma tumors (Sertoli, Leydig and granulosa cell tumors) and cystic lesions (intratesticular cysts and tubular ectasia of the rete testis) is reliable and safe. In cases with preoperative significantly increased AFP (caution: norm values not valid in the first year of life) and a clear testicular tumor in the ultrasound (yolk sac tumor) or if no testicular parenchyma is sonographically detectable, orchiectomy can still be carried out. Today orchiectomies in prepubertal boys should be an exception and the reasons for an orchiectomy must be well documented.