Granulosa cell tumor of the adult testis: A clinicopathologic study of seven cases and a review of the literature

Abstract

We report a study of seven men, aged 16 to 76 years (average age, 47.4 years) with granulosa cell tumor (GCT) of the testis. Three patients presented with testicular enlargement of several years' duration and a fourth presented with a testicular enlargement of unknown duration. The tumors in three patients were detected during routine physical examination. None of the patients had endocrine-related symptoms. All tumors were well circumscribed and showed the solid, cystic, microfollicular, gyriform, insular, and trabecular patterns typical of GCT of the ovary. Call-Exner bodies were present in three tumors and two tumors had a focal spindle-cell component. In one case the surrounding testicular parenchyma showed Leydig's cell hyperplasia and a Sertoli cell nodule. The tumor cells revealed strong immunoreactivity for vimentin but showed no expression for keratin or epithelial membrane antigen. One patient developed liver and retroperitoneal lymph node metastases 121 months after initial diagnosis and died 13 months later. Another patient initially presented with retroperitoneal lymph node metastasis and developed metastasis to the inguinal lymph nodes 12 months later. Three patients are alive at 1, 4, and 37 months with no evidence of disease. Another patient died of an unrelated condition. Follow-up information was not available for the seventh patient. Twelve cases of GCT of the adult testis have been reported in the literature, with metastases occurring in two: one of these two patients had a tumor for 8 years and died of disease 5 months after diagnosis with multiple metastases and the other had metastasis at the time of diagnosis, but was free of disease for 14 years. Our findings and a review of the literature indicate that GCT of the adult testis is a rare and slow-growing neoplasm with the potential to form distant metastases. Because recurrence or distant metastasis may occur late in the clinical course, long-term follow-up of these patients is recommended.