Repeated testicular infarction in a patient with sickle cell disease: a possible mechanism for testicular failure.
We report a case of repeated testicular infarction in a 39-year-old man with sickle cell disease. The patient presented with a 2-week history of testicular pain and was found clinically and sonographically to have a testicular mass, suspicious for a testicular tumor. The pathologic examination of the orchiectomy specimen revealed multiple infarcts, showing temporal variation ranging from acute (several days old) to recent (2 to 3 weeks old) to remote. This is the fifth case of segmental testicular infarction reported in patients with sickle cell disease/trait. We propose repeated testicular infarction as a probable mechanism of testicular failure and impaired fertility in patients with sickle cell disease.
Li
Maomi
M
Department of Pathology, Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10467, USA.
Fogarty
James
J
Whitney
Kathleen D
KD
Stone
Peter
P
D000328:Adult; D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000150:complications*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D007238:Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D012008:Recurrence; D013733:Testicular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D013737:Testis / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology