Fibrous pseudotumors of the testis: The balance between sparing the testis and preoperative diagnostic difficulty

To determine a paradigm that will be helpful for urologists to manage fibrous pseudotumors, which are a very rare condition of the testis.

We retrospectively evaluated the patients with fibrous pseudotumors in our uropathological database from 1995 to 2013. Patients who had tumor markers and ultrosonography (USG) screening before surgery and a final pathology report of a fibrous pseudotumor were included in the study.

In total, 838 patients with a testis mass were evaluated. Only 6 of these patients met the inclusion criteria. The mean age was 34 years (min: 20, max: 72). Serum tumor markers were in the normal range for all patients. The scrotal tumors were not clearly related to the testis parenchyma, and the radiologists could not definitively determine the nature of the masses (benign or malignant). A concomitant hydrocele was detected in 2 patients. After inguinal exploration, radical orchiectomy was performed in one patient with an ipsilateral atrophic testis, and biopsies were taken from the lesions for frozen section analysis in the other 5 patients. Pathologists reported benign tumors for all of these patients based on the frozen sections, and testicular sparing surgery was then performed in these 5 patients.

If scrotal tumors are detected by ultrasonography in patients with normal tumor markers, and the tumor cannot be clear distinguished from the testis, these patients might have a fibrous pseudotumor, and organ-sparing surgery can be performed on these patients.