Definition
Carcinoma with glandular differentiation arising from rete testis.
Clinical Features
Incidence
Rete testis carcinoma is rare.
Age
Age at presentation ranges between 17 and 91 years with a peak around age 70.
Sex
Male.
Site
Carcinoma of the rete testis is centered in the testicular hilum.
Treatment
Orchifunicolectomy.
Outcome
The tumor is aggressive and may have synchronous metastases to para-aortic and iliac lymphnodes. Less commonly metastases to the lungs, liver, and bone have been reported. The prognosis is poor, with an overall 5-years survival rate of 12%. Involvement of the skin of the scrotum, penis, or perineum is reported (Nochomovitz and Orenstein 1984; Michael and Srigley 2013).
Macroscopy
Most patients present with large solid scrotal mass centered in the testicular hilum. The diameter ranges from 1 to 12 cm; size >5 cm is a poor prognostic finding. Many are multifocal and/or extending to the tunica and the spermatic cord. Pathologic reporting supports two main...
References and Further Reading
Al-Obaidy, K. I., Idrees, M. T., Grignon, D. J., & Ulbright, T. M. (2019). Adenocarcinoma of the rete testis: Clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical characterization of 6 cases and review of the literature. The American Journal of Surgical Pathology. [Epub ahead of print]. https://doi.org/10.1097/PAS.0000000000001219.
Amin, M. B. (2005). Selected other problematic testicular and paratesticular lesions: Rete testis neoplasms and pseudotumors, mesothelial lesions and secondary tumors. Modern Pathology, 18(Suppl 2), S131–S145.
Michael, H., & Srigley, J. (2013). Pathology of the paratesticular region. In Urological pathology (1st ed., pp. 804–854). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
Nochomovitz, L. E., & Orenstein, J. M. (1984). Adenocarcinoma of the rete testis. Case report, ultrastructural observations, and clinicopathologic correlates. The American Journal of Surgical Pathology, 8(8), 625–634.
Paluru, S., Ulbright, T. M., Amin, M., Montironi, R., & Epstein, J. I. (2018). The morphologic spectrum of sertoliform cystadenoma of the rete testis: A series of 15 cases. The American Journal of Surgical Pathology, 42(2), 141–149.
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Colecchia, M., Bertolotti, A. (2019). Testis Collecting Duct and Rete Testis Adenocarcinoma. In: van Krieken, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Pathology. Encyclopedia of Pathology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28845-1_4959-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28845-1_4959-1
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