Floating Balls Appearance in Testicular Cystic Teratoma
Received 30 October 2008; accepted 14 January 2009. published online 10 April 2009.
Fourteen cases of a “floating balls” appearance on imaging studies in a mature ovarian cystic teratoma have been reported in published studies since 1991. Past investigators could not provide an explanation for the true mechanism of the formation of the balls. However, the floating balls occurred in rather large cysts. Because of self-examination, patients with testicular teratoma are usually referred to the hospital when the tumor is of a smaller size than that seen in patients with ovarian teratoma. We report the first case of a floating balls appearance in a testicular teratoma.
Department of Urology, Gifu University Graduate School of Medicine, Yanagido-Gifu-shi, Gifu-ken, Japan
Reprint requests: Mina Kikuchi, M.D., Department of Urology, Gifu University Hospital, 1-1 Yanagido-Gifu-shi, Gifu-ken 500-1194 Japan