Tumors of the spermatic cord: a review of the literature and a report of a case of lymphangioma

Our plain-English summary of Tumors of the spermatic cord: a review of the literature and a report of a case of lymphangioma, by A.A. el-Badawi, M.M. al-Ghorab (The Journal of Urology, 1965).

The study

• Authors: A.A. el-Badawi, M.M. al-Ghorab
• Journal: The Journal of Urology
• Published: 1965;94(4):445-50
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 41 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

A case of cystic lymphangioma of the spermatic cord, the ninth on record, is described. The lesion was suspected from the clinical examination and did not recur after surgical removal. An attempt has been made to totalize accurately the number of cases of spermatic cord tumor that have been reported. Our case report brings the total number to 387: 222 benign tumors, 125 malignant tumors, 32 miscellaneous tumors and tumors of uncertain origin, and 8 unclassified tumors. A nominative list of all the reported cases is appended.

PubMed has no abstract for this study. This is the authors' abstract, copied from the article.

In plain English

This article combined a review of the published literature on tumors of the spermatic cord with a report of one patient. The authors tried to count all primary spermatic cord tumors reported up to that time. Including their own case, they arrived at a total of 387: 222 benign tumors, 125 malignant tumors, 32 miscellaneous tumors and tumors of uncertain origin, and 8 unclassified tumors. In their list, lipoma (93 cases) was the most common benign type and sarcoma (41 cases) the most common malignant type. The patient was a 20-year-old man admitted to Alexandria University Hospital in January 1963 with a painless lump in the right side of the scrotum that had been present for 7 months. The mass was removed by surgery and diagnosed as cystic lymphangioma. The authors described it as the ninth such case recorded in the spermatic cord. No recurrence was found at examinations 3, 8 and 18 months after the operation. The authors noted that the lesion was suspected from clinical examination and did not recur after removal. The article does not discuss asbestos.

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: Literature review with a single case report
• Who was studied: Literature review: published primary tumors of the spermatic cord, 387 cases including the authors' own. Case report: one 20-year-old man seen at Alexandria University Hospital in January 1963.
• Main results:
  • Total reported primary spermatic cord tumors, including the authors' case: 387, made up of 222 benign tumors, 125 malignant tumors, 32 miscellaneous tumors and tumors of uncertain origin, and 8 unclassified tumors.
  • Lipoma was the largest benign category in the authors' list, with 93 cases.
  • Sarcoma (including spindle cell, polymorphocellular and fibrillary sarcoma) was the largest malignant category, with 41 cases.
  • The patient had a painless lump in the right side of the scrotum that had been present for 7 months.
  • Under the microscope, the removed mass consisted of cysts with collagen-containing walls lined by flat endothelial cells. The pathological diagnosis was cystic lymphangioma.
  • The patient was discharged 9 days after the operation. Follow-up examinations at 3, 8 and 18 months showed no recurrence.
  • According to the authors' literature count, only 8 cases of lymphangioma of the spermatic cord had been reported before theirs.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that their case was notable because the lesion was suspected from the clinical examination and did not recur after surgical removal.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Spermatic Cord.

Related studies

• Mesothelioma of spermatic cord: electron microscopic and histochemical characteristics of its mucopolysaccharides — P. Pizzolato, J. Lamberty (1976)
• Treatment of malignant tumors of the spermatic cord: a study of 10 cases and a review of the literature — P.H. Blitzer, D.E. Dosoretz, et al. (1981)
• Malignant Mesothelioma of Spermatic Cord in an Elderly Man With a History of Asbestos Exposure — A. D'Antonio, F. Mastella, et al. (2016)
• Carcinosarcoma of the spermatic cord — M. Nistal, F. Burgos, et al. (1990)
• Malignant mesotheliomas in spermatic cords: reports of two cases and a brief review of literature — X. Meng, T.J. Guzzo, et al. (2013)
• Hemangioma-lymphangioma of the bladder in a child: report of a case with associated hemangiomas of the external genitalia — K.E. Stanley (1966)

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