Incidental testicular lesions found during infertility evaluation are usually benign and may be managed conservatively.

PURPOSE: Hypoechoic lesions on scrotal ultrasonography are often considered germ cell tumors and radical orchiectomy is recommended. We retrospectively reviewed the findings at 1 center in men with ultrasonographically detected testicular lesions found during evaluation of severe male infertility.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

A total of 145 men with nonobstructive azoospermia at 1 center underwent ultrasonographic analysis before diagnostic or therapeutic testicular biopsy. Mean age was 34 +/- 0.6 years (range 21 to 63). All men were azoospermic. Mean serum follicle-stimulating hormone was 25 IU/l. Of the men 26% had a history of cryptorchidism and 3 patients had a history of testis tumor. No other risk factors for testis cancer were identified for any patient. All sonographic lesions were followed with serial ultrasound examinations or were biopsied/excised. All men had tumor markers tested and the results were negative.

RESULTS

Of 145 men referred for azoospermia who underwent ultrasonographic analysis before biopsy 49 (34%) showed a focal sonographic abnormality. A hypoechoic lesion was seen in 20 patients (14%), a hyperechoic lesion was seen in 10 (7%) and a heterogeneous appearance to a region of testicular parenchyma was seen in 19 patients (13%). Some lesions classified as hypoechoic demonstrated hyperechoic or heterogeneous interior components. Two of the patients with hypoechoic lesions were lost to followup. Of the remaining 18 patients 11 had lesions less than 5 mm in greatest diameter and all of these were confirmed to be benign. Only 1 patient had a seminoma, and that patient had an inguinal testis with a mass detected on routine ultrasound. All other patients with hyperechoic or heterogeneous areas on ultrasound with subsequent tissue diagnoses were found to have benign lesions.

CONCLUSIONS

Men with severe infertility who are found to have incidental testicular lesions and negative tumor markers, especially lesions less than 5 mm, may be initially observed with serial scrotal ultrasound examinations. Enlarging lesions or those of greater dimension should be considered for histological examination.