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Ultrasound of scrotal and penile emergency: how, why and when

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Abstract

High-resolution ultrasound is the most common imaging technique used to supplement the physical examination of scrotum and penis with great accuracy in assisting the diagnosis of the various pathologies of male genital system, with the highest diagnostic potential in emergency conditions. Technical advancements in real-time high-resolution, color flow Doppler sonography and contrast enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) have led to an increase in the clinical applications of scrotal and penile sonography. In this pictorial review we focus on common and uncommon male genitalia emergency with special emphasis on the role of ultrasound assessment and its specific findings to improve diagnostic accuracy.

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Acknowledgments

We thank dr. Antonio Brillantino, Emergency Surgery Department “Antonio Cardarelli” Hospital—Naples, for providing the Fig. 6e; dr. Giuseppe Romano, Urology Department “S. Maria alla Gruccia” Hospital—Montevarchi (AR), for providing the Fig. 7d; dr. Giuseppe de Magistris, Interventistic Radiology Department “Antonio Cardarelli” Hospital—Naples, for providing the Fig. 10f.

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Author notes

  1. Marco Di Serafino, Ciro Acampora, Maria Laura Schillirò, Francesca Iacobellis and Antonio Borzelli contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General and Emergency Radiology, “Antonio Cardarelli” Hospital, Antonio Cardarelli St 9, 80131, Naples, Italy

    Marco Di Serafino, Ciro Acampora, Francesca Iacobellis, Maria Laura Schillirò, Antonio Borzelli, Luigi Barbuto, Gaspare Oliva, Filomena Pezzullo, Sabrina Segreto & Luigia Romano

  2. SIUMB Advanced School of Emergency Ultrasound, “Antonio Cardarelli” Hospital, Naples, Italy

    Marco Di Serafino, Ciro Acampora, Francesca Iacobellis, Antonio Borzelli, Luigi Barbuto, Gaspare Oliva, Filomena Pezzullo, Sabrina Segreto & Luigia Romano

  3. Department of Advanced Biomedical Sciences, “Federico II” University Hospital, Naples, Italy

    Maria Laura Schillirò

  4. Department of Life and Health, “Vincenzo Tiberio” University of Molise, Campobasso, Italy

    Gianfranco Vallone

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  1. Marco Di Serafino
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  11. Luigia Romano
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by MS, CA, MLS, FI, and AB. The first draft of the manuscript was written by MS and MLS. All authors contributed to review the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marco Di Serafino.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, and its late amendments.

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Informed consented was obtained from all patients for which identifying information is not included in this article.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Supplementary file1 Longitudinal B-mode scan with acute spermatic cord torsion shows the “torsion knot” complex of epididymis and spermatic cord (MOV 5188 kb)

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Di Serafino, M., Acampora, C., Iacobellis, F. et al. Ultrasound of scrotal and penile emergency: how, why and when. J Ultrasound 24, 211–226 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40477-020-00500-8

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