Association of testicular calcifications and intracranial germinoma: a case report and review of the literature.

Abstract

Background: Seminoma is a rare type of germ cell tumor, especially in the central nervous system, and the reason for its development is unknown. Testicular calcifications are a precursor to testicular microlithiasis, which is a high-risk factor for testicular cancer (TC) in adolescent males, and seminoma is a common pathological type of TC.

Case description: This article reported an adolescent male who was admitted to the hospital due to headache and limb weakness, and the imaging showed that there was a mass at the basal ganglia of the thalamus, and after the brain biopsy was completed in the hospital, the pathological results showed that he was a seminoma, so we performed scrotal ultrasound during the same hospitalization, and found that the patient had multiple divergent calcifications in both testes, and then the patient was transferred to the Department of Internal Medicine for radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and has now recovered and been discharged, and in the subsequent follow-up, the patient has no complications. This article reviews the literature on seminoma and testicular calcifications, and discusses the possible links and causal relationships between the two diseases.

Conclusions: Intracranial germinoma has been reported rarely, and the pathogenesis is unclear. We found that it may be associated with testicular lesions, and in adolescent men, scrotal ultrasound should be done regularly, and brain biopsy should be preferred over tumor resection in patients with such brain tumors.