Prepubertal testicular tumors: a 20-year experience with 40 cases

Testicular tumors are rare in children. In addition, prepubertal testicular tumors (PTT) are fundamentally different from their postpubertal counterparts.We reviewed our 20-year experience with 40 cases to suggest an algorithm for the appropriate surgical approach for patients with PTT. All tumors ultrasonographically suspected of being benign were confirmed to be benign postoperatively. There was a significant difference between median preoperative a-fetoprotein (AFP) levels of infants with yolk sac tumor and teratoma. The majority of our cases were benign, with the most common histopathological subtype being teratoma, as recently reported. Testis-sparing surgery was carried out in five patients with teratoma and three patients with epidermoid cyst. Other than one patient with teratoma, none of the patients developed recurrence or testicular atrophy after testis-sparing surgery. When testis-sparing surgery is considered, our algorithm based on ultrasonographic findings and preoperative AFP levels might be helpful.