[Metachronous bilateral testicular tumors : a case report and review of the literature].

We report a case of metachronous bilateral testicular tumors. A 36-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with the chief complaint of painless left scrotal swelling. He had undergone right high orchiectomy for testicular seminoma, stage I, one year earlier. This time, ultrasonography demonstrated two hypoechoic mass and microlithiasis of the left testis. Abdominal and chest computed tomography revealed no lymph adenopathy and no metastasis. The preoperative diagnosis was stage I testicular tumor and subsequently left high orchiectomy was performed. Histopathological examination revealed typical seminoma. To our knowledge, including the present case, 191 cases of metachronous bilateral testicular tumors have been reported in Japan. Contralateral testicular tumor was observed at a mean age of 37.3 years and the mean interval of time between the initial testicular tumor and contralateral one was 73.0 months Approximately fifty percent of metachronous bilateral testicular tumors previously reported have recurred after five years or more from the initial surgery. In the testicular tumor, long-term follow-up and self examination of the contralateral testis are of great importance.