[Burned-out testicular tumor: a case report]

Abstract

A 29-year-old man was referred to our hospital with loss of appetite and a left lower abdominal mass. A small nodule was palpable in his left testis and ultrasonographic examination demonstrated that the nodule was low echoic. Computed tomography showed a large mass in his left retroperitoneal space. We thought the mass was a metastatic lesion from a testicular tumor. Left orchiectomy was done and microscopic examination revealed no viable tumor cells. Only fibrous tissue, small calcified areas, and hyaline bodies were found. As tumor markers were normalized after 3 courses of chemotherapy with bleomycin, etoposide, and cisplatine, the retroperitoneal mass was removed with the left kidney. It consisted of embryonal carcinoma, mature teratoma, and yolk sac tumor. One course of adjuvant chemotherapy was done and the patient has since been free from recurrence. We suppose that the tumor was a so-called 'burned-out' testicular tumor.