Evaluation and management of the acute scrotum.

The application of an orderly diagnostic protocol to the conditions causing the acute scrotum will allow all cases to be classified rapidly, with either a presumptive diagnosis of torsion or other surgical conditions that require surgery or exclusion of torsion with confidence. It is imperative, however, in those cases in which the acute scrotum is not operated on that sufficiently long follow-up be done to prove that in each and every case the testis and scrotal contents return to normal, so that an occult neoplasm will not be innocently neglected.