Atlas of Tumor Pathology: Tumors of the Testis, Adnexa, Spermatic Cord, and Scrotum 1999

Abstract

It is true, as the editors note, that the Atlas of Tumor Pathology has a long and distinguished history. This Fascicle is a successor to the 1952 First Series Fascicle Tumors of Male Sex Organs by Dixon and Moore and the 1973 Second Series Fascicle Tumors of the Male Genital System by Mostofi and Price. It is also noteworthy that the present volume has had an overseer, Dr Robert E. Scully, who has done pioneering work for more than 50 years in this area. The book contains a wealth of information concerning recent progress in tumour pathology concerning the testis and adjacent tissues. It has nine chapters and each chapter contains up-to-date reference lists. It has a good chapter on epidemiology and classification, and pathogenesis of germ cell tumours is put in perspective by a discussion of its relationship to other testicular abnormalities, including undescended testes. The book contains a comprehensive review on carcinoma in situ of the testes (the American nomenclature ‘intratubular germ cell neoplasia’ is used throughout the book). The chapter on CIS must be particularly useful for American pathologists, who in the past often were faced with insufficient American reviews on the topic, which was mainly developed by European scientists. The main sections of the book contain reviews on seminoma, nonseminoma and mixed germ cell tumours. These chapters, including the pictures, are first class. Recent immunohistochemical methods are presented together with classical histology. The various types of yolk sac tumours are also included. There is a relevant section on the difference between testicular tumours in children and in adults with focus on DNA and marker chromosomes. The review on teratoma includes important clinical wisdom including the fact that it is not unusual for postpupertal patients with pure testicular teratomas to develop metastasis that contain nonteratomatous germ cell tumour elements. The chapter on sex cord-stromal tumours has many parallels to Young & Scully’s book and is up to date. The chapters on tumours and tumour-like lesions in the testes adnexa and the spermatic cord and scrotum completes this comprehensive volume. This book will undoubtedly be a must for every department of pathology. However, it is also a relevant book for andrological laboratories using testicular biopsy as a tool in evaluation of male infertility. It is well documented in the book that undescended testes and perhaps other reasons for infertility are risk factors for testicular cancer. Therefore, the book is also an important research tool for laboratories undertaking basic research in this area.