Rete testis adenocarcinoma

Our plain-English summary of Rete testis adenocarcinoma, by I.S. Schwartz (The American Journal of Surgical Pathology, 1988).

The study

• Author: I.S. Schwartz
• Journal: The American Journal of Surgical Pathology
• Published: 1988;12(12):967
• Type of article: Case report, Letter
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This item is a letter to the editor, not a research study, followed by a reply. The author, a pathologist, wrote that Crisp-Lindgren and colleagues were wrong to describe their June 1988 case of rete testis adenocarcinoma, a rare testicular cancer, as the first published autopsy report of this tumor. The author pointed to an earlier case report by Gisser and colleagues about a 73-year-old man whose autopsy showed widespread spread of the cancer to lymph nodes, lung and liver. According to the letter, that patient had pulmonary anthracosilicosis and asbestosis, so malignant mesothelioma involving the testis was considered. Instead, the tumor's location and a visible transition from hyperplasia to cancer were judged enough to support a rete testis origin, although special laboratory studies were not done. The letter also noted an earlier report of mesothelioma of the tunica vaginalis testis in a 68-year-old former pipe insulator. The letter described an asbestos link as highly probable, even though asbestos bodies were not found in the surgically removed tissue, and no autopsy was done. In reply, Travers and Crisp-Lindgren agreed they had missed the earlier autopsy.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Letter to the editor (commentary on a published case report) with the original authors' reply; no new patients or data
• Who was studied: No population was studied. The letter discusses earlier published single-case reports, chiefly Gisser et al.'s 73-year-old man with rete testis adenocarcinoma.
• Exposure: As described by the letter: Gisser et al.'s patient had pulmonary anthracosilicosis and asbestosis. A separate earlier report concerned a former pipe insulator.
• Main results:
  • The author stated that Crisp-Lindgren and colleagues were wrong to claim theirs was the first published autopsy report of rete testis adenocarcinoma.
  • According to the letter, the autopsy in Gisser et al.'s earlier case showed spread of the tumor to lymph nodes, lung and liver.
  • According to the letter, mesothelioma was considered in Gisser et al.'s patient because of his occupational history and asbestosis. Without histochemical, immunohistochemical or ultrastructural studies, the tumor's location and a transition from hyperplasia to neoplasia were judged sufficient to support a rete testis origin.
  • The letter noted an earlier report of malignant mesothelioma of the tunica vaginalis testis in a 68-year-old former pipe insulator, who had no autopsy. Ferruginous (asbestos) bodies were not found in the surgically resected specimens, but the letter described an asbestos link as highly probable.
  • In their reply, Travers and Crisp-Lindgren agreed that their report was not the first to describe postmortem findings.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that the 1988 case was not the first published autopsy of rete testis adenocarcinoma. The original authors accepted the correction and said the earlier autopsy had escaped their notice.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Rete Testis, Adenocarcinoma.

Related studies

• Epidemiology of mesothelioma of the pericardium and tunica vaginalis testis — G. Mezei, E.T. Chang, et al. (2017)
• Mesothelioma of the tunica vaginalis testis — K.J. Butnor, E.N. Pavlisko, et al. (2019)
• Mesothelioma of the tunica vaginalis testis: report of 2 cases with asbestos occupational exposure — G. Gorini, M. Pinelli, et al. (2005)
• Malignant Mesothelioma of the Tunica Vaginalis Testis-A Malignancy Associated With Asbestos Exposure and Trauma: A Case Report and Literature Review — A.A. Baqui, N.A. Boire, et al. (2019)
• Malignant mesothelioma of the tunica vaginalis testis: diagnostic studies and differential diagnosis — S.S. Chekol, C.C. Sun (2012)
• Well-differentiated papillary mesothelioma of tunica vaginalis testis of unknown malignant potential: Sonographic appearance — K.W.S. Ko, K.S. Tse, et al. (2018)

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