Testicular torsion treatment: the horns of a dilemma?

Testicular torsion treatment rests on the horns of a dilemma, with widespread national variation in whether the responsible surgical specialty is general surgery or urology, even in hospitals with both general surgery and urology emergency service assets. This study aimed to quantify higher surgical trainee operative experience and confidence in managing suspected testicular torsion in a single UK deanery (Wales).

Anonymised logbook data were obtained via the Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum Programme version 10 using the head of school report function for all general surgery (n=53) and urology (n=15) higher surgical trainees, which were combined with the distribution of an electronic self-administered questionnaire.

Median operative scrotal explorations recorded for all general surgery higher surgical trainees and senior general surgery higher surgical trainees (ST7+) was 7 (range 1-22) and 10 (range 1-22), compared with 21 (range 9-64, p=0.00104) and 24 (19-64, p<0.001) for urology higher surgical trainees. The questionnaire response rate was 64.6% (general surgery 31/50, urology 11/15). Confidence levels in assessing adult and paediatric patients were lower in general surgery when compared with urology higher surgical trainees: median adult confidence rate 7/10 compared with 9/10, and paediatric confidence rate 7/10 compared with 8/10 (p<0.001 and p=0.053, respectively). All higher surgical trainees preferred urology as the accountable hospital specialty when both assets were available.

General surgery higher surgical trainees receive less than 50% of the operative exposure of urology higher surgical trainees in emergency scrotal surgery, which has important implications for curriculum competence development and patient safety.