The timing of initial imaging in testicular cancer: impact on radiological findings and clinical decision making.

BACKGROUND In testicular cancer determination of clinical stage and recommendation of therapeutic strategy after inguinal orchiectomy are based on primary imaging by CT-scan of the chest and CT- or MRI- abdomen. It has not been investigated so far, whether the imaging should be performed before or after primary testicular surgery. Staging before surgery means exposing all patients to CT radiation irrespective of ensured histologic malignancy while postoperative staging could pose a risk in biased clinical decision making by increased presence of unspecific lymph node enlargement caused by postsurgical effects. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the association between the timing of initial staging and occurrence of unspecific lymph node enlargement and adjuvant therapies after inguinal orchiectomy. METHODS We retrospectively evaluated clinical and radiological data from 236 patients who had undergone inguinal orchiectomy for testicular cancer at our department. Statistical analysis was performed to determine whether the occurrence of unspecific lymph node enlargement or the rate of adjuvant therapies were influenced by timing of initial staging (preoperative vs. postoperative). RESULTS The postoperative imaging cohort showed significant more inguinal, pelvic and retroperitoneal unspecific lymph node enlargement than the preoperative imaging cohort. Simultaneous occurrence of inguinal or pelvic lymph node enlargement together with retroperitoneal enlargements could only be found in the postoperative imaging cohort. No difference regarding adjuvant therapies could be found. CONCLUSIONS Timing of imaging affects the detection rate of unspecific lymph node enlargements but does not show a significant effect on the rate of adjuvant therapies.