Sertoli-Leydig tumor and male pseudohermaphroditism discovered during inguinal hernia surgery

Abstract

The diagnosis of inguinal hernia is usually clinical and it is performed with high sensitivity and specificity. Very occasionally, it may be confused with other diseases (lymphadenopathy, testicular pathology,etc). We report a rare case of a 80-year-old woman with a clinical diagnosis of hernia, which was underwent surgery and a tumor from the hernia orifice was found. After histological analysis we discovered that the misdiagnosed hernia was actually a tumor on a rudimentary testis. After radiological, gynecological and cytogenetic assessment we obtained an unexpected diagnosis: Male psheudohermaphroditism and Sertoli-Leydigtumor (SLCT) development on the testis. Diagnostic guidance for disorders of sexual development is based almost entirely on pediatric experience and very few guidelines are available for adults. Male pseudohermaphroditism is an intersex condition in which the carriers show a phenotype that includes external female genitalia, but a male genetic and gonadal sex. SLCT are sex-cord stromal tumors which develop in ovary and very rarely in the testis, representing 0.1–0.5% of ovarian tumors and less than 0.2% of testicular tumors. Thus far 24 case have been reported in the literature in which SLCT tumor has developed on testis.