Sonoelastography in differentiation of benign and malignant testicular lesion in dogs

Present study aimed to evaluae the elasticity of tumorous testicular lesions and usefulness of the elastographic examination for diagnosing lesions in the testes. The study was carried out on nine dogs in which tumorous testicular lesions had been found in the ultrasonographic examination. In all the animals examined, the elastographic examination of the lesions was performed and then castration and the histopathological examination of specimens in order to determine the type of the changes. On the basis of the results of the histopathological examination the dogs were divided into two groups: group I--consisted of three dogs in which nonneoplastic testicular lesions were found and group II comprised six dogs in which neoplasic lesions that began in testicular interstitial cells (Leydigoma) were detected. The lesions observed in dogs of group I showed low stiffness (average 11.25 kPa, range 6.1 to 16.4 kPa), whereas the lesions found in dogs of group II were characterized by high stiffness (average 91.85 kPa, range 52.3 to 131.4 kPa). On the basis of a scale proposed by Goodie et al. (2012), the lesions in group I were in the range of SC1, and in turn, the lesions in group II were in the range of SC 3 inverted. Based on the results obtained, it can be stated that the sonoelastographic examination is useful method for the screening diagnostics of testicular lesions.