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Abstract Background Sex cord gonadal stromal tumors compose less than 10% of all testicular neoplasms and consist of a variety of histological subtypes. In 2016, the World Health Organization introduced a novel subtype, the myoid gonadal stromal tumor, that consists of spindle-shaped cells with immunohistologic features of muscle cells. Only few cases have been reported to date. Due to its rarity and owing to its only recent introduction, the current knowledge about myoid gonadal stromal tumor is limited, and particularly, appropriate clinical management is still ill-defined. Case presentation A 47-year-old man of Caucasian descent presented with nonspecific scrotal discomfort. A roundish and well demarcated hypoechoic mass of 8.5 mm in diameter was detected in the cranial region of the left testis. Serum tumor marker levels were within normal ranges. Testis-sparing surgery revealed a 9-mm whitish, hard mass with sharp surgical margin. Histologically, the neoplasm consisted of microfibrillar tissue with spindle-shaped cells harboring elongated nuclei. Immunohistochemical work-up disclosed expression of desmin, small muscle actin, and S100 protein giving evidence for the myogenic nature of the neoplastic cells. There was no indication of malignancy, neither histologically nor clinically. Follow-up of 1 year was uneventful. Conclusion A literature survey revealed 22 previous cases of myoid gonadal stromal tumor. The median age was 37 years, the median size of the neoplasm was 20 mm, and there was no side-preponderance. Myoid gonadal stromal tumor is not much different from other subtypes of gonadal stromal tumors nor from testicular gem cell tumors regarding age and laterality; however, tumor size is smaller in myoid gonadal stromal tumors than in germ cell tumors. Although rarely performed so far, testis-sparing surgery probably constitutes an appropriate treatment of this neoplasm. Myoid gonadal stromal tumor represents an emerging novel entity of benign testicular new growths that caregivers of patients with testicular tumors should be aware of.

Abstract Preoperative homeostasis of sex hormones in testicular germ cell tumor (TGCT) patients is scarcely characterized. We aimed to explore regulation of sex hormones and their implications for histopathological parameters and prognosis in TGCT using a data-driven explorative approach. Pre-surgery serum concentrations of luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), testosterone (T), estradiol (E2) and prolactin were measured in a retrospective multicenter TGCT cohort (n = 518). Clusters of patients were defined by latent class analysis. Clinical, pathologic and survival parameters were compared between the clusters by statistical hypothesis testing, Random Forest modeling and Peto-Peto test. Cancer tissue expression of sex hormone-related genes was explored in the publicly available TCGA cohort (n = 149). We included 354 patients with pure seminoma and 164 patients with non-seminomatous germ cell tumors (NSGCT), with a median age of 36 years. Three hormonal clusters were defined: ‘neutral’ (n = 228) with normal sex hormone homeostasis, ‘testicle’ (n = 91) with elevated T and E2, low pituitary hormones, and finally ‘pituitary’ subset (n = 103) with increased FSH and LH paralleled by low-to-normal levels of the gonadal hormones. Relapse-free survival in the hormonal subsets was comparable (p = 0.64). Cancer tissue expression of luteinizing hormone- and follicle-stimulating hormone-coding genes was significantly higher in seminomas, while genes of T and E2 biosynthesis enzymes were strongly upregulated in NSGCT. Substantial percentages of TGCT patients are at increased risk of sex hormone dysfunction at primary diagnosis before orchiectomy. TGCT may directly influence systemic hormonal homeostasis by in-situ synthesis of sex hormones.

Introduction and Objectives: Knowledge about the significance of sarcopenia (muscle loss) in prostate cancer (PCa) patients is limited. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of skeletal muscle index (SMI) on early functional and pathological outcome in patients undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP).Materials and Methods: One hundred randomly chosen patients who received RP between November 2016 and April 2017 at Martini-Klinik (Hamburg, Germany) were retrospectively assessed. SMI (skeletal muscle mass cross-sectional area at L3/m2) was measured by preoperative staging computed tomography scans at L3 level. Cox regression analysis was applied to determine the impact of SMI on post-operative outcome. Follow-up was 12 months. Continence was defined as no more than one safety pad per day.Results: Mean age of the cohort was 63.6 years. Mean SMI was 54.06 cm2/m2 (range, 40.65–74.58 cm2/m2). Of the patients, 41.4% had pT2, 28.7% had pT3a, and 29.9% had pT3b or pT4 PCa. SMI revealed to be without significant correlation on tumor stage. Follow-up data of 55 patients were available for early functional outcome analysis. SMI showed no significant influence on erectile function in multivariable Cox regression analysis. In multivariable Cox regression analysis, SMI turned out to have no influence on continence rates 6 weeks after surgery.Conclusion: The present study shows that patients undergoing RP have a wide range of SMI. Unlike in other urological malignancies, there was no significant impact of SMI on early functional outcome and pathological outcome. A larger cohort is needed to confirm these results.