scholarly journals Real-time Point-of-care Ultrasound for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Testicular Torsion

POCUS Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-72
Author(s):  
Rahul V. Nene ◽  
Rachna Subramony ◽  
Michael Marcias ◽  
Colleen Campbell ◽  
Amir Aminlari

Background: Testicular torsion is a surgical emergency that needs prompt diagnosis and treatment. Point-of-Care ultrasound (POCUS) can not only establish the diagnosis but also guide the Emergency Physician in evaluating the response to manual detorsion. Case Report: We describe the case of a 13-year-old male who presented with acute scrotal pain. We demonstrate how bedside ultrasound was used to make the diagnosis of testicular torsion, guide the technique for manual detorsion, and confirm adequate return of blood flow. Our case illustrates the ease with which POCUS can be used in real time to diagnose and treat organ-threatening pathology, but more importantly, it shows how real-time POCUS was used to detorse a testicle that was refractory to the standard detorsion technique. Conclusion: The acute scrotum is a time-sensitive presentation and if testicular torsion is present, the diagnosis should be made as soon as possible. Many Emergency Departments do not have 24-hour coverage of ultrasound technicians, which would delay the diagnosis and treatment. Moreover, when manual detorsion is attempted, it often does not work because the testicle may need more than the standard 180 degree medial to lateral rotation. POCUS provides real-time analysis of return of blood flow and can thus guide further rotation, or opposite direction rotation, as needed.  

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan E. Davis ◽  
Jeffrey S. Dubin

This review details the evaluation and management of the acute scrotum in the emergency department setting and emergent penile complaints in adults, with an emphasis on the most serious and most common conditions. Other emergent conditions include necrotizing fasciitis of the perineum (Fournier disease), incarcerated or strangulated inguinal hernia, and genitourinary (GU) trauma. Emergency practitioners need to be most concerned with the entities that, if left untreated, can result in ischemia and necrosis of the penis. Basic anatomy and bedside evaluation are reviewed. Acute scrotal and penile pain and GU trauma are discussed in terms of assessment and stabilization, diagnosis, and treatment and disposition.  This review contains 5 figures, 19 tables, and 71 references. Keywords: Acute scrotal pain, testicular torsion, priapism, Peyronie disease, paraphimosis, phimosis, balanitis, posthitis, epididymitis


CJEM ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (S1) ◽  
pp. S35-S35
Author(s):  
B.W. Ritcey ◽  
M. Woo ◽  
M.D. McInnes ◽  
J. Watterson ◽  
J.J. Perry

Introduction: Testicular torsion is a time sensitive condition for which there can be significant delays to surgery or transfer to definitive care while trying to obtain an ultrasound to confirm the diagnosis. This study determines the test characteristics for each individual sonographic sign of testicular torsion associated with the patient requiring surgical intervention. Methods: A retrospective health records review of adult patients with acute, non-traumatic scrotal pain or swelling (defined as under 24 hours since onset) presenting to one of two Canadian academic tertiary care emergency departments between November 2009 and March 2013 was performed. A single data abstractor completed a case report form for each patient including demographics, individual ultrasound findings, final diagnosis, and need for surgical intervention. The sensitivity and specificity of each ultrasonographic sign (including testicular heterogeneity, decreased colour doppler, and decreased pulsed wave doppler) at predicting surgical intervention during the same hospital visit was calculated along with 95% confidence intervals. Results: During the study period there were a total of 876 emergency department visits for scrotal pain, of which 198 patients met our inclusion criteria. The included patients had a mean age of 36.2 years. Decreased blood flow to the painful testicle on colour doppler showed the best overall test characteristics with a sensitivity of 82.4% (95% CI 55.8%-95.3%) and specificity of 100% (95% CI 96.3%-100%) for predicting a need for surgical intervention for testicular torsion. Other ultrasound findings for testicular torsion included a heterogeneous appearance of the painful testicle (sensitivity 47.1% [95% CI 23.9%-71.5%], specificity 77.4% [95% CI 68.9%-84.2%]), and decreased arterial or venous flow on pulsed wave doppler (sensitivity 76.5% [95% CI 49.8%-92.1%], specificity 100% [95% CI 96.3%-100%]). Conclusion: Decreased blood flow to the painful testicle on colour doppler showed excellent specificity and can rapidly “rule-in” a need for surgical intervention for testicular torsion. Given that colour doppler is relatively easy to learn and perform, future studies should assess the use of colour doppler using point of care ultrasound to expedite surgical consultation.


CJEM ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (S1) ◽  
pp. S71-S71 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.E. Shefrin ◽  
B. Ritcey ◽  
J.J. Perry ◽  
M. Woo

Introduction: The timely diagnosis and treatment of testicular torsion is essential as a longer duration of symptoms is correlated with testicular necrosis and infertility. Ultrasound imaging assists in separating this diagnosis from other causes of acute scrotal pain. Our objective was to characterize which ultrasound findings predicted surgical intervention. Methods: We performed a retrospective health records review of all patients, ages 0-17 years that presented to the emergency department of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario over a 5-year period (2009-14) with scrotal pain <24 hours duration who were assessed by an emergency physician (EP) and received a testicular ultrasound by the Diagnostic Imaging Department. Patients’ records and ultrasound reports were reviewed by two reviewers who recorded ultrasound findings, times of EP assessment, ultrasound and surgical intervention in a standardized data extraction form. Sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values were calculated for the ultrasound findings. Results: 190 patients were analyzed of which 34 had a final diagnosis of testicular torsion (mean age 11.5 years, range 0-17.3). The mean time from EP assessment to ultrasound was 67.6 minutes (95%CI 50.5-84.6) during the daytime (800-2159) and 83.2 minutes (95%CI 36.7-130.4) for overnight presentations (2200-759). The absence of blood flow on colour Doppler ultrasound of the affected testicle was the best predictor of surgical intervention (sensitivity=94.1% [95%CI 80.3%-99.3%], specificity=99.4% [95%CI 96.5%-99.9%], positive likelihood ratio=146.8 [95%CI 20.7-1037.7] and negative likelihood ratio=0.06 [95%CI 0.02-0.23]. Other ultrasound findings that help rule in testicular torsion were the presence of a heterogeneous testicle on the symptomatic side (specificity=91.0% [95%CI 85.4%-95.0%] and the presence of the whirlpool sign (specificity=99.4% [95%CI 96.5%-99.9%]). Conclusion: The absence of blood flow on ultrasound is the best ultrasound finding for predicting surgical management of testicular torsion. Neither a heterogeneous testicle nor whirlpool sign had strong enough sensitivity to warrant their independent use. Future studies, such as those utilizing point of care ultrasound by EPs, should be conducted to study the affect on delays in treatment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 155798832095300
Author(s):  
Akinori Nakayama ◽  
Hisamitsu Ide ◽  
Akiyoshi Osaka ◽  
Yasuyuki Inoue ◽  
Yukihito Shimomura ◽  
...  

As testicular torsion is a medical emergency, it requires quick diagnosis and treatment. Color Doppler ultrasound (CDUS) is useful for the diagnosis of testicular torsion. An accurate diagnosis can be difficult when CDUS indicates the preservation of blood flow in the testis. We examined the accuracy of testicular torsion diagnosis in patients with acute scrotum made by doctors on duty using CDUS. The subjects included 26 patients who visited our department between January 2016 and June 2018 presenting with acute scrotal pain. Patients were placed into one of three groups based on testicular blood flow evaluated by CDUS. The first group had no testicular blood flow, the second had diminished blood flow, and the last group had normal or increased blood flow. Patients were also diagnosed through scrotal exploration. Finally, patients were further divided into two groups identified by CDUS frequency utilized during diagnosis (12 MHz groups and ≤8 MHz groups), and the diagnostic accuracy of the two groups was compared. Characterizing torsion by either the absence of or diminished, testicular blood flow in the CDUS evaluation, the sensitivity and specificity of the CDUS performed by doctors on duty accounted for 69.2% and 53.8%, respectively. No improvement in diagnostic accuracy was evident despite the usage of a 12-MHz ultrasonic transducer. In this study, the sensitivity of CDUS performed by doctors on duty was about 70%, suggesting that scrotal exploration should be performed promptly even if testicular blood flow is observed and testicular torsion is suspected from medical history and body findings.


2018 ◽  
Vol 97 (3) ◽  
pp. 278-282
Author(s):  
João Arthur Brunhara Alves Barbosa ◽  
Marco Antonio Arap

Acute scrotum (AS) is a clinical syndrome characterized by scrotal pain of acute onset, often accompanied by scrotal swelling and other local and systemic signs and symptoms. It may be the initial presentation of several diseases including testicular torsion, orchitis, epididymitis, hydatid torsion, strangulated hernia and, less frequently, scrotal hematoma and testicular tumor. In the setting of emergency services, physicians should be extremely careful with the possibility of testicular torsion. This condition consists in the torsion of the spermatic cord, leading to an interruption of the testicular blood flow, with ischemia and ultimately necrosis. It is associated with acute severe pain, nausea, absence of the cremasteric reflex, and a high-riding testis. Physical examination may help diagnosis. However, a color Doppler ultrasound of the scrotum is usually required for a definitive diagnosis. Ultrasound will reveal a reduction or no blood flow to the affected testis; surgical treatment is mandatory and should be performed as early as possible. A differential diagnosis is orchiepididymitis. It may be of viral etiology in early childhood and bacterial after the beginning of sexual activity. The most specific sign associated with this condition is the relief of pain after elevation of the testis, known as Prehn’s sign. Treatment for bacterial cases requires antibiotics, while cases of viral etiology require only symptomatics. Hydatid torsion, including torsion of appendix testicularis and appendix epididymis may mimic testicular torsion but on ultrasound, blood flow is preserved, and a twisted appendix is often seen. Treatment for this condition consists only in symptomatic control. Testicular torsion should be treated as early as possible, since a delay of 6 hours may result in organ loss. Surgery consists of bilateral orchiopexy in case of a viable testicle and orchiectomy of a necrotic organ, always with fixation of the contralateral testicle.


2020 ◽  
pp. 205141582098119
Author(s):  
Benjamin Storey ◽  
Nathan Shugg ◽  
Alison Blatt

Background: Testicular torsion is an organ-threatening surgical emergency with a limited timeframe for intervention. Objective: To identify the delays to surgical exploration of patients with an acute scrotum in a tertiary hospital to prevent adverse outcomes associated with this time critical emergency. Methods: A retrospective review of medical records for all patients who underwent scrotal exploration for acute scrotal pain in a tertiary hospital in regional New South Wales between January 2008 to December 2018 was performed. Results: Retrospective review identified 242 patients, of whom 161 had testicular torsion and 56 resultant orchidectomies. No statistically significant difference in pre-hospital delays between paediatric or adult populations was found. The average time from presentation to theatre was 4 h 36 min. Patients who were delayed > 6 h from presentation to surgical exploration had significantly increased rates of orchidectomy. Delays that significantly affected rates of orchidectomy were transfer from peripheral sites, late presentation, misdiagnosis and representation after discharge. Conclusion: The most common reason for delay was diagnostic error with the patient later re-presenting to hospital. Patient transfer from the primary hospital to a tertiary institution and subsequent delayed surgical exploration also contributed to significantly higher rates of orchidectomy. Level of Evidence: 3


Author(s):  
Zhijia Peng ◽  
Xiaogang Lin ◽  
Weiqi Nian ◽  
Xiaodong Zheng ◽  
Jayne Wu

Early diagnosis and treatment have always been highly desired in the fight against cancer, and detection of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has recently been touted as highly promising for early cancer screening. Consequently, the detection of ctDNA in liquid biopsy gains much attention in the field of tumor diagnosis and treatment, which has also attracted research interest from the industry. However, traditional gene detection technology is difficult to achieve low cost, real-time and portable measurement of ctDNA. Electroanalytical biosensors have many unique advantages such as high sensitivity, high specificity, low cost and good portability. Therefore, this review aims to discuss the latest development of biosensors for minimal-invasive, rapid, and real-time ctDNA detection. Various ctDNA sensors are reviewed with respect to their choices of receptor probes, detection strategies and figures of merit. Aiming at the portable, real-time and non-destructive characteristics of biosensors, we analyze their development in the Internet of Things, point-of-care testing, big data and big health.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Berrondo ◽  
Robert A. Mevorach ◽  
Jimena Cubillos

Testicular torsion is the most common pediatric urologic emergency and is a common cause of acute scrotal pain. Timely diagnosis is important for testicular salvage,as treatment delayed beyond 6 hours from the onset of symptoms is the most predictive factor of testicular death. There is a bimodal distribution of age with extravaginal torsion most commonly presenting in the neonatal period and intravaginal torsion most commonly presenting around the onset of puberty. Intermittent testicular torsion presents a unique challenge in making an accurate diagnosis, as patients most often present when asymptomatic. Several risk factors exist, although bell-clapper deformity is the most important. The diagnosis is made largely on history or physical examination. In equivocal cases, imaging with color Doppler ultrasonography may be helpful in making the diagnosis. Additional tools including near-infrared spectroscopy and Testicular Workup for Ischemia and Suspected Torsion score may be helpful in diagnosing testicular torsion. Possible long-term effects on fertility and hormonal function are also often a concern for the patient and clinician. This review contains 6 figures, 5 tables, and 34 references.  Keywords: acute, infarction, ischemia, orchidopexy, scrotum, spermatic cord, testis, torsion


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