Acute pain in one testicle in patients under age 25 is considered a surgical emergency. Failure to correct spermatic cord torsion with testicular ischemia within 2 to 4 hours can result in loss of testicular function and testicular atrophy.
Torsion of the spermatic cord (testicular torsion) is most commonly confused with infectious epididymo-orchitis and with torsion of the testicular and epididymal appendices. Thirty percent of seminomas, teratomas, and embryonal cell carcinomas of the testes also present with unilateral pain and tenderness of a testicle, but tumor-related pain is more gradual in onset and initially of less intensity than that seen with acute torsion. Table 186.1 summarizes the incidence of conditions causing acute testicular pain in selected age groups.
Copyright © 1990, Butterworth Publishers, a division of Reed Publishing.