Granulomatous disease of the testis.

Granulomatous disease of the testis may have a specific cause or it may be idiopathic. We found 3 specific agents as the cause of the disease in a retrospective review of 17 cases of granulomatous disease of the testis. Mycobacterium tuberculosis was the most common cause of subsequent granulomatous orchitis. The clinical presentations of the patients varied but several clues often were present that led to the diagnosis of granulomatous reaction. The patients were treated with orchiectomy. The acid-fast lipid of the tubercle bacillus and spermatozoa is suggested as a possible common denominator in the pathogenesis of the granulomatous reaction.