J Korean Soc Emerg Med.  2014 Jun;25(3):344-347.

Testicular Torsion as an Overlooked Cause of Acute Abdomen

• Jung JH
• Cha KC
• Chung HC
• Cha YS
• Ryang SH
• Kang TW
• Lee CM
• Kim KJ

Abstract

Acute scrotal pain is a common urologic presentation and critical pathology due to the possibility of organ loss in the emergency department. Referred pain in the lower quadrant of the abdomen may accompany testicular torsion. Of 58 patients with testicular torsion between January 2001 and March 2011, three visited the emergency department with abdominal pain alone. The median age of the patients was 16 years (range, 13-19). Median duration of abdominal pain to first medical examination and proper diagnosis by an urologist was 14 hours (range, 2-168) and 77 hours (range, 57-240), respectively. All patients underwent orchiectomy. Due to symptomatic variations for testicular torsion, all clinicians providing emergency care to patients who have referred pain in the lower abdomen without scrotal pain should consider the constellation of symptoms in order to avoid superfluous diagnostic delay.

Keyword

Abdomen; Acute; Testicular torsion

MeSH Terms

Abdomen
Abdomen, Acute*
Abdominal Pain
Diagnosis
Emergency Medical Services
Emergency Service, Hospital
Humans
Orchiectomy
Pain, Referred
Pathology
Spermatic Cord Torsion*