Testis-sparing surgery in children with testicular tumors: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Testis-sparing surgery (TSS) has been increasingly used for treating a variety of testicular tumors (TTs) in children. However, the indications and feasibility associated with TSS remain uncertain. This study aimed to present the clinical outcomes of TSS in children with TTs. The PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase databases were reviewed for relevant articles on the clinical outcomes of TSS in children. Recurrence rate, benign rate, rate of TSS and its 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. A total of nine relevant studies with 320 patients were included in this study. The recurrence rate was 5.8% (95% CI: 2.3%-14.1%), benign rate was 70.9% (95% CI: 56.3%-82.1%), the rate of TSS (RTSS) was 36.2% (95% CI: 26.1%-47.8%), RTSS in benign tumor was 48.4% (95% CI: 34.3%-62.9%) and rate of elevated AFP was 29.3% (95% CI: 19.7%-41.3%) in children with TTs. Regarding the distribution of TTs, 159 (49.6%) were teratomas, 74 (23.1%) were yolk sac tumors, 36 (11.3%) were epidermoid cysts, 3 (0.9%) were rhabdomyosarcomas, 7 (2.2%) were leydig cell tumor, 6 (1.8%) were sex-cord stromal tumor, 8(2.5%) were mixed malignant germ cell tumors, 3(0.9%) were hemangioma, and 4(1.3%) were adrenal rest tumors. The findings of this meta-analysis suggested that most of the TTs in children were benign, and the most common histologic subtype was teratoma. TSS should be provided to children with benign lesions. This study confirmed that very low rates of tumor recurrence were observed in children with TTs.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
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