Sclerosing Sertoli cell tumor of the testis. A report of 10 cases.

Abstract

Sex cord-stromal tumors of the testis are uncommon and have been less well characterized than similar tumors of the ovary, with a much greater proportion of them falling into the "unclassified" category. We report the clinical and pathological features of 10 Sertoli cell tumors of the testis with prominent sclerosis, representing a distinctive, heretofore undescribed subtype of Sertoli cell tumor in the human. The patients were mostly in their 3rd and 4th decades (median age, 30 years; range, 18-80 years). One tumor occurred in a cryptorchid testis, and one patient had had an orchidopexy several years prior to his presentation. There was no evidence of estrogen production by the tumor in any case. The tumors occurred equally often in each testis and were small (0.4-1.5 cm) in diameter, except for two tumors, which were 4.0 cm in diameter. All of them were centered in the testicular parenchyma and were well-demarcated, hard, yellow-white to tan nodules. They were characterized histologically by solid and hollow, simple and anastamosing tubules, large irregular aggregates, and thin cords of Sertoli cells in a prominent collagenous background. The tumor cells were of medium size and had pale cytoplasm, which sometimes contained large lipid vacuoles; the round nuclei varied from small and dark to large and vesicular. Follow-up information on five patients--including the only one whose tumor had malignant features histologically--showed no evidence of recurrence or metastasis 3-10 years (mean, 5.8 years) after orchidectomy alone.