Sympathetic auto-immune orchitis

There is increasing evidence that, besides the immunization to sperm antigens and other immunological disorders, spontaneous autoimmune orchitis may also be an aetiological factor in male reproductive failure. The present paper describes a case study, where a surgical operation for an inguinal hernia caused an orchitis first in the ipsilateral, and few weeks later also in the contralateral testis and which finally led to an atrophy of both testicles. The time-course, patient's symptoms and especially the final histological picture all indicate that this process had an immunological basis, and therefore it is proposed that it should be called 'auto-immune sympathetic orchitis'.