Acute scrotum is defined as an acute painful sweling of the scrotum or its content. There are many conditions it may cause acute scrotum, but since a delay in the diagnosis and treatment may led to necrosis and its loss, the pokssibiolity of the
spermatic corsd should be ruled out in the first place.
In a retrospective studdy of 32 childhood poatients with acute scrotum presenting to Chungbuk National University Hospital from narch 1992 to March 1995, we evaluated general aspectis of acute scrotum including the result of follow up. The
incidence of
acute epididymitis, testicular torsion, mumps orchitis, and torsion of a testicular appendage were 66%, 19%, 9% and 6%, respectively. Of the eight scrotal explorations performed, 6 had testicular torsion, and 2 had torsion of appendages. With the
exception of cases of far aadvanced necrotic testes, both color Doppler ultrasound and radioisotope imaging were highly specific diagnostic modalities. But, because of the potdentially devastating outcome of a false-negative result of imaging
studies,d
we continue to believe that physical exam is the best fguide regarding the necessity of surgical exploration and all patients with unequeivocal examinations are best served by dprompt surgical therapy.
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