Torsion of testis hydatides can be diagnosed in males at any age: in babies who have just been born, in older boys, as well as in adult men. This is a rather serious pathology, which is often solved with the help of surgical intervention, and then requires a special recovery period.
Disease characteristics
Torsion of hydatides in a child is an emergency condition characterized by the movement of the testicle with a violation of normal blood supply. The disease is not very common, according to statistics, it happens in one out of five hundred people. Pathology is faster determined in adolescence than in newborns.
The essence of the disease is that the connecting tissue located between the testis and appendage is rotated in one of the sides. Such torsion can lead to the death of tissues or to the formation of a blood clot, which can subsequently cause hemorrhage. To prevent this, it is very important to make the right diagnosis in time and start treatment.
Causes of pathology
There are many reasons that provoke torsion of testicular hydatides in children. The most common of these is scrotal injury. But there are other cases that cause this disease. For instance:
- pathological processes occurring during the formation of the appendage and testicle;
- a sharp spasm of the muscles of the peritoneum;
- improper development of the testicle during the period when it descends into the scrotum.
Also, twisting of the organ can occur due to improper maturation of the spermatic cord, if the inguinal canal has the wrong width or length, as well as with increased muscle tone. Torsion of testis hydatides in children can be one-sided or two-sided. Typically, a one-way torsion is detected during diagnosis. Bilateral pathology is very rare. If the torsion develops inside the testicle, then it is called intravaginal, but if the pathology develops along with the shell, then it is an extravaginal torsion.
In newborn babies, the disease can provoke an intrauterine pathology of the development of the genital organs. In older boys, this can happen due to injury.
Signs of ailment
The first symptoms of pathology can be seen with the naked eye, since they develop quite quickly. Only in the case when the cause of the torsion becomes an injury, within a few hours no special changes are observed with the child. The disease can be determined by the following symptoms:
- The contour of the scrotum changes. The affected half becomes larger than healthy.
- In a very short period of time, the testicle becomes red or blue.
- The boy’s body temperature rises.
- If you touch the scrotum, then small dots of red color appear on her skin.
- The child may feel sick, sometimes vomiting occurs.
- If the boy is very small, he becomes restless, often crying.
- When changing diapers to infants, they feel pain, even with a slight touch on the genitals.
- Older children who can already speak complain that they have pain in the scrotum.
If you notice these signs in your baby, which indicate the presence of torsion of testicular hydatide, you should urgently, without delaying it, show it to the pediatrician. And he, most likely, will give a direction to the surgeon.
Complications of the disease
If the testicle and spermatic cord rotated 180 or more degrees, then in this case it is very difficult to avoid the consequences. It may even result in a blood clot and then a hemorrhage.
The consequence of the torsion of hydatids can be infertility in the future. Therefore, in no case should you start the disease. Although this is quite difficult, given that the child is in severe pain.
What to do, should a surgical operation be performed with torsion of testis hydatides? The answer to this question can only be given by a doctor after an examination.
Diagnosis of the disease
The doctor will first conduct an examination of the damaged organ, make an anamnesis taking into account all factors that could cause the appearance of pathology. A laboratory urine test will also have to be done to rule out the presence of infection.
An ultrasound scan will be performed for the child, which will show if there is a violation of blood flow in the organs. In some cases, a puncture of the shells of the injured testicle is required. As a rule, it is not difficult to diagnose hydatid torsion.
How to treat
Do not even try to treat the disease yourself. If a scrotum was injured in a little boy, you must immediately call an ambulance or take your baby to a medical facility on your own. The method of treatment and the possibility of complications depend on how quickly the parents turned to a specialist.
If no more than six hours have passed since the injury, then 100% of the treatment result will be positive and the organ can be saved. Therefore, it is very important to pay attention to the condition of the child in a timely manner. When more than six hours have passed since the scrotum was injured, then it is rather difficult to make any predictions. If the child is not delivered to the doctor within 24 hours, then saving the testicle will not work - it becomes unviable during this time.
At an early stage, the pathology is treated by spinning the spermatic cord. The doctor does this manually, unwinding the cord in the opposite direction. Usually the procedure takes several minutes, if the conservative method does not give the expected result, then other methods of treatment are used.
Surgery
The operation is performed under general anesthesia. Using a scalpel, the surgeon strips the testicle and concludes whether it is viable. Then attaches the organ to the appendages or removes completely.
Access to the operation site has several options. For example, if surgery is performed on a very small child, then inguinal access is used, if it is a boy older than 10 years old or an adult male, then the surgeon usually chooses access through the scrotum.
When you do not seek medical help for a long time (a day or more), the testicular tissue completely dies and has to be removed. If the organ is preserved, then it is sewn to the appendages. Then a drainage tube is inserted into the wound, antibiotic irrigation is done.
Postoperative rehabilitation
The rehabilitation period is very important. Its integral part is physiotherapeutic procedures. In order to normalize microcirculation in a damaged organ, a small patient should take special medications and sensitizers. About 7 days after surgery, the sutures are removed.
In hospitals, such physical procedures as UHF, magnetotherapy, galvanization and others are often used for rehabilitation purposes. The length of such procedures should not exceed 20 minutes, otherwise the high temperatures that are used in such treatment can adversely affect spermatogenesis.
In the postoperative period, the child should be very carefully protected from the common cold. Because during this period, even a very minor viral infection is dangerous for him. After surgery, the boy is forbidden for some time to swim in the water, if it is cold, go out in the cold, and drink cold drinks.
Disease prognosis
The prognosis is favorable only if the parents took the disease seriously and immediately turned to a medical institution for help. Then it will be possible to do without surgery and the child will be healthy.
If the parents delayed the visit to the doctor, the operation was unsuccessful or there were some complications during the rehabilitation period, then the patient, already in adulthood, may be diagnosed with infertility.
Sometimes testicular torsion can cause cancer of this organ in an adult male. But do not worry very much about this, as modern medicine can significantly reduce the risk of complications. In addition, parents became more informed, try to turn to specialists for help as quickly as possible, comply with recommendations on how to care for the baby in the postoperative period.
Prevention
Parents from an early age should teach the boy how to behave on the street and at home in order to avoid injuries. It should also be explained to him that in case of any injuries and injuries he should report this to his parents.
If the child complains of pain in the scrotum, he should immediately be shown to the doctor, without waiting for it to pass by itself. Any delay can be very dangerous for the boy’s health. The success of treatment depends on how timely it was started. The hydatide torsion code in ICD-10 is No. 44.