Male genital tuberculosis

Abstract

A 51-year-old man presented with painless left testicular swelling for 1 month, with fevers, chills, night sweats, weight loss, and increased difficulty voiding over 6 months. He underwent radical orchiectomy; surgical pathology revealed granulomas containing acid-fast bacilli in the testis and epididymis. Male genital tuberculosis was diagnosed using nucleic acid amplification on urine and confirmed by positive urine and sputum cultures for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Genital disease is an unusual extrapulmonary manifestation of tuberculosis, often seen in middle-aged men with renal or pulmonary tuberculosis. Clinical findings are variable, but commonly include dysuria with sterile pyuria or a painless testicular mass. Initial diagnosis is often incidentally made on pathological specimens and confirmed with nucleic acid amplification and cultures. Treatment using a standard four-drug regimen is usually sufficient; surgery is rarely required. This case is used to raise awareness of, and formulate a minimally invasive diagnostic approach to, this unusual but important entity.