Liposarcoma of the cord presenting at vasectomy counselling

Abstract

A case of liposarcoma of the cord is reported in a patient presenting for vasectomy. This paper discusses such tumours and illustrates the importance of a careful clinical examination during counselling.

PIP: A case of liposarcoma, a rare malignancy of lipoblasts derived from mesenchyme, in a 36-year old man applying for vasectomy is described. The subject reported nagging scrotal pain for 14 years. Examination revealed a soft mass above the left testis, thought to be an epididymal cyst. During exploration under general anesthesia, a partly encapsulated fatty lesion was found encircling the testis and the cord. The tumor was dissected and excised. Some parts of the tumor resembled a vascular lipoma, others contained multivesiculated primitive cells and hyperchromatic multi-nucleated and granular lipoblasts. The man was treated with left radical orchidectomy with high ligation of the cord 10 days later, and biopsies of lymph nodes, retroperitoneal fat and skin were taken for examination. He has remained recurrence free for 4 years by CT scans. This case dramatizes the need to consider paratesticular tumors in any case of a mass found in a vasectomy candidate.