[What is the best management for a spermatic cord sarcoma in 2018?]

Prog Urol. 2019 Jan;29(1):12-17. doi: 10.1016/j.purol.2018.09.010. Epub 2018 Oct 16.
[Article in French]

Abstract

Spermatic cord sarcomas are rare tumors for which the most important is the initial diagnostic procedure. They are frequently misdiagnosed after surgery for inguinal hernia, inguinal lymphadenectomy or testicular malignancy. Any clinical suspicion has to lead to perform imaging with MRI and a core needle biopsy in order to obtain an accurate preoperative diagnosis. Liposarcoma and leiomyosarcoma are the most common histological subtypes in elderly adults, rhabdomyosarcoma in children or in young adults. A CT scan will precede the treatment in order to look for distant metastasis and abdominal involvement. The therapeutic strategy as well as the surgical planning are then adapted to the histological, morphological and prognostic factors. Surgery is the cornerstone for the treatment of spermatic cord sarcoma. The minimum requirements for the surgical procedure are a wide excision of the tumor en bloc with radical orchidectomy, excision of the ipsilateral scrotum and high spermatic cord ligation. It could be enlarged to the anterior abdominal wall and adjacent organs some required a soft tissue flap. Spermatic cord sarcoma and trunk wall sarcoma have the same prognosis for which local recurrence could significantly decrease survival. Consequently, surgeon in charge with these tumors has to be familiar with soft tissue sarcoma and the management of these patients must be carried out under the supervision of a multidisciplinary team within the Netsarc network.

Keywords: Chirurgie; Mulidisciplinarity; Pluridisciplinarité; Quality; Qualité; Sarcome des tissus mous; Sarcome du cordon spermatique; Soft tissue sarcoma; Spermatic cord sarcoma; Surgery.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Child
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Genital Neoplasms, Male / diagnosis
  • Genital Neoplasms, Male / pathology
  • Genital Neoplasms, Male / therapy*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Prognosis
  • Sarcoma / diagnosis
  • Sarcoma / pathology
  • Sarcoma / therapy*
  • Spermatic Cord / pathology*
  • Urologic Surgical Procedures, Male
  • Young Adult