Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29468000›Full record

ArticleOman medical journal2018

An Accurate Diagnostic Pathway Helps to Correctly Distinguish Between the Possible Causes of Acute Scrotum.

Beat Roth, Ioannis Giannakis, Meret Elisabeth Ricklin, George Niklaus Thalmann, Aristomenis Konstantinos Exadaktylos

Open access · diamondAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Oman medical journal, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
1.7field-weighted citation impact, top 17% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Fournier's gangrene mimicking an acute epididymitis.SAGE open medical case reports · 2021
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Beat RothDepartment of Urology, University Hospital of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Ioannis GiannakisDepartment of Urology, University Hospital of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Meret Elisabeth RicklinDepartment of Emergency Medicine, University Hospital of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
George Niklaus ThalmannDepartment of Urology, University Hospital of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Aristomenis Konstantinos ExadaktylosDepartment of Emergency Medicine, University Hospital of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
University Hospital of Bern · CH

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesWe sought to identify a simplified approach for the rapid differential diagnosis of patients presenting with acute scrotum.

methodsA total of 440 patients referred to the emergency department of the University Hospital of Bern, Switzerland, with acute scrotum between 2003 and 2013 were retrospectively analyzed. Simple and multiple binary logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate clinical and laboratory parameters that may help to distinguish between genital/paragenital infection and acute testicular torsion.

resultsOver half (58.4%; 257/440) of the patients were diagnosed with genital/paragenital infection, 11.8% (52/440) with chronic testicular pain, 9.5% (42/440) with acute testicular torsion, 4.3% (19/440) with a testicular cancer, and 2.5% (11/440) with symptomatic distal ureterolithiasis. In multivariate analysis, a positive Prehn's sign was predictive of testicular torsion, whereas fever, dysuria, high leucocyte counts in blood and/or urine, high blood C-reactive protein, and burning pain were predictive of genital/paragenital infection. Color Doppler ultrasound did not help to distinguish between torsion and infection.

conclusionsAn accurate diagnostic pathway helps to correctly distinguish between the possible causes of acute scrotum. However, none of the examinations performed could reliably distinguish between acute torsion and other causes of acute scrotum. Therefore, immediate surgical exploration of the testis is mandatory if torsion cannot be ruled out.

Indexed as

EmergenciesScrotumUrology

Identifiers

PMID29468000
PMCPMC5798796
OpenAlexW2790617549

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.