A Rare Cause of Mechanical Intestinal Obstruction: A Neoplastic Intra-Abdominal Testis

Abstract

The acute abdomen has many etiologies frequently encountered in emergency surgical units. Approximately 20% of surgical admissions for acute abdominal conditions are for intestinal obstruction. Clinicians often overlook rarer causes. A 43-year-old man presented to the emergency ward with the clinical findings of ileus. Computed tomography revealed a heterogeneous necrotic 168 × 100-mm mass between the sigmoid colon and urinary bladder. Physical examination revealed a palpable intra-abdominal mass that was removed via exploratory laparotomy. On histopathologic examination, the mass was identified as a seminoma. The literature contains few reports of seminoma as a cause of acute abdomen and ileus, mostly seen between the ages of 30 and 40 years. We report a patient with seminoma arising in an undescended testis that presented as a palpable painful lower abdominal mass and mechanical intestinal obstruction, despite the large diameter of the mass, as well as review relevant literature.