Testis-sparing Surgery: A Single Institution Experience

To demonstrate the safety and efficacy of testis-sparing surgery (TSS) in 2 specific circumstances: small, nonpalpable masses suspected to be benign and masses suspicious for germ cell tumor in a solitary or functionally solitary testicle or bilateral disease.

Our institutional review board-approved testicular cancer registry was reviewed for men who underwent inguinal exploration with intent for TSS (2013-2020). The attempted TSS and completed TSS groups were evaluated for differences using Student's t test for normally-distributed variables, chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests for proportions, and Wilcoxon rank-sum test for nonparametric variables.

TSS was attempted in 28 patients and completed in 14. TSS was completed only if intraoperative frozen section demonstrated benign disease, except for 1 patient with stage I seminoma and solitary testicle. Sensitivity and specificity of frozen section analysis was 100% and 93%, respectively. There were no significant differences in demographics between attempted vs completed TSS cohorts. Median tumor size was significantly smaller in the completed TSS cohort (1.0 cm vs 1.7 cm, P = .03). In patients with unilateral masses without history of testis cancer, the testis was successfully spared in 9 of 22 cases (41%). In patients with bilateral disease or germ cell tumor in solitary testis, the testis was spared in 5 of 6 cases (83%). At a median follow up of 12.2 months, all patients were alive, and 27 of 28 had no evidence of disease (96%).

TSS is safe and effective for small, benign masses and in the setting of bilateral disease or tumor in a solitary testis.