Abdominal Pain in Teenagers: Beware of Testicular Torsion
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Read the article on jpedsurg.org ↗Article · Sep 2019 · 1 min read
In brief
In brief
Retrospective study of 73 pediatric testicular torsion cases found that 22% presented with abdominal pain rather than testicular pain, leading to significant diagnostic delay (36h vs 5h) and dramatically higher testicular loss rates (81% vs 4%). Clinicians should maintain high suspicion for testicular torsion in adolescent males presenting with abdominal pain.
Written by the GCMD Library team from the article.
Background/Purpose
Testicular torsion (TT) remains an important cause of testicular loss. Subtle presentations, such as abdominal pain, may be responsible for late diagnosis and increased testicular loss. This study assesses the influence of pain onset location over testicular outcome.
Methods
Data of children 17 years and younger submitted to surgical treatment for TT by our department from January 2017 to December 2018 were collected. Demographics, clinical presentation and outcome were reviewed.
Results
73 patients (median age of 15.3 years old) were included in the study. 22% (16/73) patients presented with abdominal pain. When compared to patients with initial testicular pain, patients with abdominal pain showed a significant delay in TT diagnosis/treatment (median pain duration of 36 h vs 5 h) and a significantly higher rate of testicular loss [81% (13/16) vs 4% (2/57), p