Synonyms
Definition
Presence of more than two testicles in the same individual.
Clinical Features
In the majority of cases, the polyorchia is an incidental finding during the intervention of a hernia, testicular descent, or torsion of the spermatic cord. In other cases, it has been a finding in the study of idiopathic infertility, or unexplained fertility after a vasectomy. When the duplicate testicle is located in the scrotum, the clinical symptom is that of a nonpainful mass.
Incidence
It is a rare anomaly with approximately 200 reported cases. The most frequent situation is triorchidism. With four testicles, less than a dozen cases have been observed (Uğuz et al. 2017). There are two cases with pentaorchidism, one diagnosed during surgical exploration without histological verification and another diagnosed by magnetic resonance imaging (Myers et al. 2017).
Age
Age at diagnosis varied from birth to 75 years (Nistal et al. 1990).
Sex
Male.
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References and Further Reading
Bergholz, R., Koch, B., Spieker, T., & Lohse, K. (2007). Polyorchidism: A case report and classification. Journal of Pediatric Surgery, 42, 1933–1935.
Leung, A. K. (1988). Polyorchidism. American Family Physician, 38, 153–156.
Myers, A., Morganstern, B., & Fine, R. (2017). A unique case of pentaorchidism. Urology, 104, 196–197.
Nistal, M., Paniagua, R., & Martín-López, R. (1990). Polyorchidism in a newborn: Case report and review of the literature. Pediatric Pathology, 10, 601–607.
Noroozian, J., Farishta, D., Ballow, D., Sonstein, J., Orihuela, E., & Eyzaguirre, E. (2017). Primary malignancy in a supernumerary testicle presenting as a large pelvic mass. Case Reports in Urology, 2017, 4529853.
Piro, E., Abati, L., Zocca, V., Brugnoni, M., & D’Alessio, A. (2017). Triorchidism: Which therapy? La Pediatria Medica e Chirurgica, 39, 141.
Singer, B. R., Donaldson, J. G., & Jackson, D. S. (1992). Polyorchidism: Functional classification and management strategy. Urology, 39, 384–388.
Uğuz, S., Gürağaç, A., Demirer, Z., Yilmaz, S., & Aydur, E. (2017). Bilateral polyorchidism with ipsilateral two undescended testes: A rare congenital anomaly. Andrologia, 49(4). https://doi.org/10.1111/and.12643.
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Nistal, M., González-Peramato, P. (2019). Polyorchidism. In: van Krieken, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Pathology. Encyclopedia of Pathology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28845-1_4898-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28845-1_4898-1
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