Preliminary Note on a New Method of Differentiating the Testicular Tumors by Biological Means

Abstract

The difficulties attendant upon accurate clinical differentiation of testicular swellings are well known. Hydrocele, hematocele, gumma, tuberculous, gonococcal and non-specific epididymitis are frequently confused with neoplastic disease in the testis. Even trauma may prove confusing, as a history of injury is frequently associated with the onset of teratomata. Dean recently pointed out that the correct diagnosis is so rarely made that only 11 per cent of 124 cases were free of local recurrence or metastasis on admission to the Memorial Hospital. Yet 43 per cent of this group consulted physicians within a month of the first notable symptom. Any method, therefore, which will reliably promote earlier and more accurate diagnosis of the teratomata should prove of great value to the patient and of more than passing interest to the physician. Much interest attaches to the hormonal activities attendant upon the growth of both normal and neoplastic tissues. A study of the literature especially relating to the excretion of the hormone of the anterior lobe of the hypophysis induced us to investigate the urines of patients with testicular disease. We find that certain neoplasms of the testis cause the excretion of a hormone whose presence in the urine can readily be detected by biological means!