P103 How and why do we do testicular ultrasounds? A national clinical development group survey of genitourinary medicine clinics

Abstract

<h3>Background/introduction</h3> There is a paucity of guidelines for when testicular ultrasound (USS) should be performed and how easily GUM clinics should be able to access scans. <h3>Aim(s)/objectives</h3> To establish what pathways are in place for USS requests and clinical prompts to order a scan. <h3>Methods</h3> A 10 question survey was designed using Survey Monkey. This was approved by the BASHH Clinical Development Group, and disseminated within the network via the regional representatives. <h3>Results</h3> The link was sent to 139 leads and completed by 111 clinics (79%). The majority of respondents (92.79%) had USS located in hospital. 72.97% services had no guidelines and 48.18% had no pathway for urgent scans. 77.48% requested between 1–6/ USS month. No service had to wait &gt; 2 weeks for urgent requests, with 23.85% services having same day access. Ranking for symptoms and signs showed 62% services would often/ always scan for a mass present &gt;14 days, and 92.79% always scan a hard, painless testicular mass. <h3>Discussion/conclusion</h3> The majority of services have access to timely USS, although half do not have established pathways for urgent scans. The most concerning clinical features are the persistence of swelling and mass consistency, but for other features, such as pain, respondents felt that further information is required. In general, patients are relying on clinical judgment of experienced clinicians to decide the need for requesting scans. With integration of practitioners with different skills, there is need for a more standardised approach for how, when and why we perform testicular ultrasounds.