Testis-sparing surgery for testicular masses: current perspectives

Males who present with a palpable testis nodule are likely to have malignant germ cell tumor in > 90% of cases. Therefore radical orchiectomy remains the standard of care for intratesticular tumors. However, due to the recent developments of high-frequency probes in ultrasonography, the incidence of detecting a small non-palpable testis tumors is higher and higher. These lesions are thought to be benign in more than 60-80% of cases, thus a radical orchiectomy should be considered an overtreatment. In addiction to that, radical orchiectomy might cause infertility, psychological issues and endocrine disorders, hence an organ-sparing procedure in such cases should be pursued.