Contemporary diagnostic work-up of testicular germ cell tumours

Diagnostic work-up of testicular masses should begin with a complete patient history and palpation of the testes with both hands. First-line imaging of the scrotum should be performed using multiparametric ultrasonography, that is the sequential use of grey-scale ultrasonography, colour Doppler ultrasonography (CDUS), and, if available, contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) and real-time elastography (RTE). Increased vascularization--a characteristic of malignancy and inflammation--is visualized on CDUS and CEUS. RTE provides additional information for distinguishing between benign and malignant tissue by measuring tissue elasticity of lesions. MRI is another powerful modality, typically used for second-line imaging of intrascrotal disorders. MRI can provide images with a broad field of view of the scrotal contents. Cancerous lesions are identified on MRI by their signal enhancement after injection of contrast agent. Testicular germ cell tumours require treatment by inguinal orchiectomy. Testis-sparing surgery is advocated for benign tumours and in solitary testicles provided the tumour is <3 cm and the preoperative serum testosterone level is normal. For intraoperative decision-making with regard to testis-sparing surgery, frozen section histological examination can be used, which has a false-negative rate of <10%.