Multicenter retrospective study on benign testicular tumors in children: save as much as you can please.

BACKGROUND: Testicular tumors (TT) are infrequent in pediatric patients, representing 1% of pediatric solid tumors; benign testicular tumors (BTT) are the most common. We present a multicenter study aiming to describe the incidence, histology and surgical technique of BTT, with special emphasis on which approach could present better outcomes. METHODS: The records of pediatric patients diagnosed with BTT between 2005 and 2020 from 8 centers in 5 different countries in Latin-America, were reviewed. RESULTS: Sixty two BTTs were identified. 73% tumors presented as a testicular mass, and 97% underwent testicular ultrasound as the initial imaging study, all of them had findings suggestive of a benign tumor. 87% had preoperative tumor markers (AFP and BHCG). In 66%, an intraoperative biopsy was done and 98% of the intraoperative biopsies were concordant with the final pathology report. Tumorectomy was performed in 81% of patients and total orchiectomy in the remaining 19%. Six percentage of patients underwent a subsequent orchiectomy. Mean follow-up was 39 months (1-278 months) where no cases of atrophy were observed clinically or on ultrasound. Fertility was not evaluated in this series. CONCLUSIONS: Proper management of BTTs is essential to avoid unnecessary orchiectomies. Preoperative ultrasound associated with intraoperative biopsy seems accurate in identifying benign pathology, thus enabling conservative testicular surgery with safety margins. Based on this multicenter series, we suggest performing an intraoperative biopsy with subsequent tumorectomy preserving healthy testicular tissue in BTT.

Expression of Protein SOX9 in Biliary Atresia.

OBJECTIVES: Biliary atresia (BA) is still an enigmatic disease. Deeper knowledge of its pathophysiology could help develop better treatments. SOX9 regulates bile duct development, liver regeneration and fibrosis; therefore, it could be determinant in characterizing BA liver damage. Aim: To study if there is a SOX9 expression pattern in liver biopsies from BA patients. METHODS: Liver biopsies from BA patients (group BA), from age-matched infants without primary hepatic disease (group Control), and from patients with other liver conditions (group OLC) were compared. Expression of SOX9 was checked for: amount, intensity of immunoreaction, localization within ductular structures, perifibrotic epithelial cells, and lobular cells. The scores were added to create a scale from 0 to 11 that allowed group comparison. SOX9 Scale and liver survival were also looked for a correlation. RESULTS: All BA cases had a score >4, while all controls scored <4. OLC livers scored 1 to 8 (3.5 ±â€Š2.0) (P < 0.001 between all groups). A cut-off at 4 had 100% sensitivity and 88.24% specificity to differentiate BA from Controls and from OLC (area under receiver operating characteristic curve: 0.9989 (95% confidence interval: 0.9964-1.000). Strong expression of SOX9 was observed mainly in the nuclei of proliferated ductules of portal spaces and fibrotic bridges. SOX9 Scale score could not be related to liver survival in this study. CONCLUSION: In BA livers, SOX9 is mainly expressed in reactive ductular epithelium, following a pattern significantly different from that seen in non-BA patients; thus, SOX9 Scale may have a role in the diagnosis of BA.