Section of Endocrinology, Andrology and Internal Medicine, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Catania University, Catania, Italy.
The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the prevalence of testicular microlithiasis (TM) in central-eastern Sicilian men and to evaluate the association between TM and testicular tumour or infertility. A total of 1056 Sicilian patients underwent scrotal US between 2005 and 2010. TM was found in 106 men with an overall prevalence of 10%; roughly about four times the median prevalence reported in the previous studies (0.6-18.1%). Forty men (3.8%) had a classic TM, whereas 66 (6.2%) had a limited TM. The prevalence of testicular tumour in this cohort was 2.4% (25/1056). At the moment when the testicular tumour was diagnosed, 15 patients (60%) had TM. There was a significant difference (P < 0.01) between the rate of malignancy in men with TM (15/106; 14.2%) and that in men without TM (10/950; 1.1%) with an odds ratio = 16. The prevalence of TM among infertile patients was 18.8%. These data may relate to an increased awareness towards scrotal US examination and/or to the use of more sensitive equipments. The elevated rate of testicular malignancy in men with TM suggests that this US feature may be regarded as a risk factor for testicular tumour.
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La Vignera S, Condorelli R, Vicari E, D'Agata R, Calogero AE. Are you the author?
Reference: Andrologia. 2011 Jul 6. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0272.2011.01180.x
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 21729139
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