How reliable is ultrasound? I'm worried.

[QuintenvG]

About three weeks ago I had an ultrasound and was diagnosed with orchitis, an inflammation of the left testicle. The doctor was pretty sure about this and I got antibiotics.

However, after three weeks the swelling is still present and perhaps even a bit bigger. My question: how reliable is ultrasound?

[Scott]

The ultrasound is generally quite reliable, but since after three weeks things haven't improved, it's definitely worth another call to the doctor.

[QuintenvG]

Still worried

Does it happen often that an ultrasound isn't accurate enough and testicular cancer is diagnosed afterwards?
I read in a lot of articles that's reliable for 100 percent.

[Scott]

To my understanding, that would be very rare.

[Dave40306]

Your situation sounds EXACTLY like mine!

My GP orginally diagnosed my condition (pain and swelling in LT) as an infection (Epididymitis), even after the ultrasound. The radiologist that read the ultrasound said "no masses found" and "possibly Orchitis". Only after the swelling kept increasing after a heavy dose of antibiotics did my GP agree that it was time to see a Urologist.

My ultrasound did not show any masses because the cancer was spreading from within the testicle and taking over the entire thing. Once the Urologist examined me, he said "I don't care what the ultrasound does or doesn't show, you have cancer" and a quick blood test proved it. The path report after surgery also confirmed it. My testicle measured 7cm x 6cm x 5cm and the tumor was 7cm x 6cm x 4cm!

Get to a good Urologist ASAP! All the waiting and misdiagnosis in my case most likely led to my cancer spreading and now I need Chemo. If I didn't mess around with the GP and went straight to the Urologist, it might not have had time to spread.

[QuintenvG]

Hi Dave,

My ultrasound was monitored by a urologist.
Because I have Spinal Cord Injury I visit a special SCI-urologist twice a year.

[Dave40306]

Hi Dave,

My ultrasound was monitored by a urologist.
Because I have Spinal Cord Injury I visit a special SCI-urologist twice a year.

Has your blood been checked for tumor markers? Like I said, 2 Urologist looked at my original ultrasound and one even did one of his own to make sure there was no visible tumor or mass - and there was none. Mine was definitely a case where the ultrasound was not reliable in identifying cancer.

[Scott]

My testicle measured 7cm x 6cm x 5cm and the tumor was 7cm x 6cm x 4cm!

Your testicle was that enlarged, your tumor was taking up most of the testicle, and the ultrasound didn't pick it up? That's very strange!

[Dave40306]

Your testicle was that enlarged, your tumor was taking up most of the testicle, and the ultrasound didn't pick it up? That's very strange!

All the ultrasound showed was that the testicle was "heterogeneous and hypervascular". According to the Urologists, heterogeneous meant that the testicle was not all the same consistency and showed as many shades of gray on the images. Apparently, a normal testicle (like my right one) shows as a fairly solid object on the ultrasound and any additional mass also shows up pretty clearly. That wasn't the case for me.

[anxious mom]

I agree with Scott,you should consider going back to the Doctor.

Same thing happened to my son, he was diagnosed with orchitis after an ultrasoud which was supervised by a Urologist that we have consulted. He was prescribed to take antibiotics for 2 weeks, after which I did not see any improvement so I decided to consult another Urologist, which again ordered an ultrasound - the result is the same-orchitis.

The new Urologist said that if that is the case, it should have changed after 2 weeks of antibiotics, the orchitis thing did not sound right to him, so he ordered blood tests,which confirmed his suspicion of TC. Pathology report after surgery confirmed that it is TC (yolk sac).