title: Bilateral epididymal sarcoidosis presenting without radiographic evidence of intrathoracic lesion: Review of sarcoidosis involving the male reproductive tract.
abstract: Sarcoidosis is a multisystem disorder that rarely involves the genitourinary tract. To date, only 59 cases of histologically proven sarcoidosis involving the male reproductive tract have been reported in the literature. We present here a case of bilateral epididymal sarcoidosis without radiographic evidence of intrathoracic lesion. A 46-year-old man presented with a one-week history of painless bilateral scrotal swellings. Physical examination detected multiple elastic firm nodules on both sides of the scrotum which showed no tenderness. The nodules seemed to involve the entire bilateral epididymides. Some irregularly shaped hypoechoic masses in the bilateral epididymides were identified on gray scale ultrasonography. On magnetic resonance images, the bilateral epididymides were seen to be enlarged, heterogeneous and nodular without any signs of testicular involvement. The lesion showed a slightly high signal intensity on the T2-weighted image. Pathological evaluation following bilateral epididymectomy found non-caseating epithelioid cell granulomas with giant cells in epididymal tissue, thus confirming a diagnosis of sarcoidosis. Gallium-67 scanning showed additional small hot spots in the anterior chest wall and extremities. Open biopsy of a superficial papular lesion in the dermis of the right upper arm was performed and pathological findings indicated sarcoid granulomas. This report also includes a review of the literature pertaining to sarcoidosis of the male reproductive tract.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan. kokodama@aol.com
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kodama
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Egawa
authors.forename: Naohisa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tomosugi
authors.forename: Ayumu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mukai
authors.forename: Mikio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Namiki
mesh_terms: D004822:Epididymis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005710:Gallium Radioisotopes; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D013733:Testicular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013896:Thoracic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis
chemical_list: D005710:Gallium Radioisotopes