[Follow-up in a boy with Leydig cell tumor after selective surgery]

A 8(6/12) year-old-boy presented with precocious puberty and a slightly enlarged left testis. After a detailed examination a Leydig cell tumour was diagnosed. Surgical exploration revealed an encapsulated tumour, 2.7 cm in length, which was selectively removed without orchidectomy. Within one year the clinical signs of pubertal precocity disappeared, the bone age did not further advance and height velocity declined from 8.2 cm / year (+3.9 SDS) to 4.1 cm/year (-1.0 SDS). Physiologically, he entered puberty at the chronological age of twelve years, presenting at that age, in comparison to his peer group, a slightly decreased pubertal growth spurt. However, bearing in mind that being precocious in puberty he started in fact his pubertal growth spurt at a far earlier age, therefore, this acceleration of height before operation has to be added to the centimetres gained during pubertal development thereafter resuiting consequently in an absolute normal pubertal growth spurt. This underlines the fact that the individual growth spurt and, therefore, the total amount of centimetres gained is very much robust. Ten years later, the patient ended up well within his familial target height and remained free of disease. We report on a long-term follow-up of a prepubertal boy after testis-sparing surgery for Leydig-cell-tumour.