Testicular torsion? Ever heard of it?

Factual Questions
1

My son woke up with an enlarged scrotum and in pain so we took him to the emergency room where he was diagnosed with this condition which required immediate surgery to correct.

Thing is the doctors say it is very common yet I’ve never heard of it. In quick terms it means ones testicles become tied which constricts the flow of blood which can be painful and lead to possibly losing one or even both testicles. Here is a site with all the information: LINK

They say its common with teenage boys and young men but I just find its odd that growing up thru high school and college, and I’d never heard of anyone with this.

Have you all?

2

Yes. Without going into details, I have a close relative that this happened to. He lost the nut in question.

3

Ouch, my sympathies. I’ve never heard of this either.

4

Were they able to untwist it soon enough? Excellent work by your hospital team and kudos for you for the immediate response if they did.

Obviously as a pediatrician I have heard of it and is a true surgical emergency. Time is of the essence and it is more common than not that the testicle is lost if repair is not accomplished within only a very few hours of pain onset. More often scrotal pain is something else less emergent but fear of this gets us getting lots of people hustling for false alarms quite often.

5

I’ve heard of it, but not had to deal with it.

6

I’ve heard of it, but only because I’m a doctor. I’d never heard of it before medical school.

There is an analogous condition for women, ovarian torsion, which in my experience you also don’t hear about in the “lay” world.

7

All I’ve heard about it is that it supposedly sometimes happens to cyclists. I’ve no idea how real that factoid is, though.

8

I’ve heard of it, but only because it was on the TV show “Venture Bros.”

They even did a PSA:

9

Frankly, the way everything is arranged down there I’m surprised it isn’t a lot more common. If you had two beanbags attached to lengths of yarn in the same configuration, with very little vibration they would get all tangled up.

10

I’ve heard of it, but I worked clinically for a few years and then in an insurance office for many years after that.

I hope your son is feeling much, much better.

11

Heard of it through The Venture Bros

then I met a guy in college who said he had it and I laughed because I had heard it in the cartoon

he didn’t find it funny though

12

I had this happen. No surgery, though. It was painful and I got out of gym class for a few days, but it corrected itself.

I also have a couple of lumps there which are apparently a similar or related issue. Not cancer, thank goodness, and not noticeable in casual use!

13

Happened to my (then) 15-year-old son last year. I hadn’t heard of it beforehand either, but I was told pretty much the same as you were. Fortunately, we got to it quickly enough and his gonads are just fine.

14

It happens in animals - my dad dealt with it on occasion.

The dog was very, very happy to have the issue fixed. Even if the gonad in question wound up in the slop bucket.

Regards,
Shodan

15

Anyone else reading this thread with their legs crossed?

I know of two people at school who had this happen. One lost a nut, one didn’t.

16

I have heard of it as “torqueing a testicle”. I’m pretty sure I’m not a doctor and don’t know what the Venture Bros are and don’t remember where I heard it.

17

I think of this ailment every time I pass the neighborhood of Balls Crossing in Arlington, Va.

18

Colophon:

…and since that time, you’ve referred to them as “Almond Joy” and “Mounds”?

19

I posted this in a “What was the most painful think you ever did?” thread:

I recently had a discussion with somebody who had a torsion when he was a boy. His neighbor, a veterinarian, drove the screaming boy and his quite distressed father to the hospital. As the boy was being rushed into the ER, the neighbor pulled the father aside to describe what exactly had happened. During the conversation he mentioned that when it would happen to a horse, it was his opinion that the most humane treatment was to just shoot the horse right there on the spot!

20

I’ve heard of it, but I’m not sure why I know about it. Ovarian torsion is a new (and frightening!) one for me.