Torsion of an intra-abdominal seminoma of the testis

Abstract

Abstract In 1927 Wangensteen wrote, ‘No greater diversity of opinion probably exists concerning anything in medicine than the question of malignancy in the undescended testicle.’ Since this was written a great number of papers has been published on this subject, and now it is generally accepted that the maldescended testis is more liable to undergo malignant change than the normally descended organ. The main factors which swayed opinion to this view were Campbell's analytical papers of 1942 and 1959. His conclusions were that malignancy was eleven times more frequent in the inguinal testis and sixty times more frequent in the intra-abdominal testis. The maldescended testis is also known to be more liable to torsion and trauma than is the normal organ. The following case illustrates two of the dangers to which an intra-abdominal testis is exposed.