Cancer of the testicle diagnosed by ultrasound and the ultrasonic appearance of the contralateral testicle.

Fifty-six patients admitted for surgery due to suspicion of testicular cancer were randomly selected for preoperative ultrasound scanning. The result of scanning was compared with the diagnosis obtained at surgery and subsequent microscopy. Thirty-one patients had testicular cancer which in all cases had been detected by ultrasound. In patients suffering from benign diseases a tumor of the testis was seen (1 patient) or suspected (3 patients) in 4 patients. Two of these patients had an infection of the testis, and one had the testis removed as a tumor was suspected also at surgery. The diagnostic specificity of a visualised or suspected testicular tumor seen by ultrasound was 89%, and the diagnostic sensitivity was 100%. The echo pattern of testicular tissue adjacent to testis tumors was very irregular, with a score 4 in all tumor using a score from 1 (regular) to 5 (tumor pattern). The echo pattern of the contralateral testicles was more irregular (mean score 3.3) in tumor patients compared with the echo pattern in patients suffering from benign diseases (mean score 2.7).