title: The sonographic twinkling artifact in testicular calcification.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The twinkling artifact is a color Doppler phenomenon that appears as a rapidly fluctuating red and blue Doppler signal behind a strongly reflecting medium, manifesting as a color signal but without real flow behind the structures. To the untrained eye, the twinkling artifact may lead to the misdiagnosis of vascular flow within a structure. Our objective was to show the occurrence of the twinkling artifact in the testis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two patients with calcification in the testis were examined with standard settings on 2 different sonography machines to show this artifact.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Calcification in the tunica albuginea and intratesticular macrocalcification both showed this artifact.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We report the presence of the twinkling artifact in 2 cases of testicular calcification, which shows that this phenomenon can occur in the testis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, King's College Hospital, London, England.
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: O'Flynn
authors.forename: Paul S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Sidhu