Testicular Pain: Symptoms and Treatment - Essay Example

Diagnosis includes finding out the age of the patient because such problems are more present in adolescent boys and babies (Katie, 2008). In this case, the patient is 16 years old. The cause of pain is also featured; for example sickness or trauma of any kind, especially those caused by sports, as well as the presence of fever. In this case, the patient has a temperature of 101. A 16-year-old may be asked whether there was any sexual activity or any urological problem. The gait of the patient will be taken into consideration, how he behaves when in a resting position, how the scrotum is positioned; in this case, the boy’s right testicle is descended.

King and Henretig (2008) insist that an important thing to check is also the palpation of the scrotum and lower abdomen. In this case, the test reveals that there is tenderness to palpation. It would also be important to note whether the swelling is going down or not. But the most important thing to note is whether there is an absence or presence of a cremasteric reflex. In this case, it is absent, and the most probable diagnosis is torsion. When there are acute swelling and tenderness, in this case, blood tests are not required. The patient’s testicle is red. All these points to testicular torsion.

Having concluded that the diagnosis is testicular torsion, an immediate surgical consultation will be required. The testis is a very sensitive organ, and it should not be left for more than eight hours, as it could lead to more complications that may include testicular infarction.  Testicular infarction results from a lack of oxygen because of a lack of blood supply to the testicle. Before the surgical procedure is done, the child will need to fast. In this case, because of the high probability of the reason being testicular torsion, it should be the leading diagnosis till when it is ruled out. This goes to show the severity of this problem.

The absence of a cremasteric reflex means that the patient requires immediate attention. This is because it could mean that there is an underlying problem. It has been shown on many occasions that testicular torsion is the most common cause of the absence of cremasteric reflex. This usually happens when the cord attached to the testicles gets twisted therefore causing a lot of pain. This, therefore, means that it should be taken as an emergency because of obstruction of blood supply (Wein et al., 2011).

Depending on the severity of the problem and how quickly a patient seeks treatment, the patient will most likely not have any complications in the future. If immediate action is taken and the problem resolved, the patient will have a full recovery. Therefore, no other problems are expected in the future. But in other cases where the patient arrives too late, the affected testicle will be removed (Katie, 2008). This means that the patient will not be able to father children in the future. But if one testicle is removed, the other one should function although probably with low sperm count.