What is a Testicular Biopsy?

Video Transcript

"Hello, my name is Doctor Susan Jewell. Now, in this clip I'm going to talk to you about a particular procedure called a testicular biopsy. Now, when we perform a testicular biopsy is when a patient comes in and they might have several signs and symptoms of a possible suspicion of having testicular cancer. So the first thing we do is to order a testicular biopsy. Now you think, "What is this procedure?" Well, here is a diagram. First of all, what is the definition of testicular biopsy? Well, basically it's a simple, surgical procedure to remove a piece of tissue from the testicle. Here you could see a diagram-picture of the testicle, and here's a diagram of the testicle. Here's the testicle, the penis gland, and the testicle sitting in the scrotal sac. And here is a picture of the incisional sight. So for example, here is one of the testicles. If we suspect that the testicular cancer, or the tumorous mass, is within this testicle, we then do the incisional cut along this sight here. So, what is the procedure? Well, basically what we do is make an incision in the skin of the scrotum, and then we use a fine needle, or we use we use a very fine pair of scissors, and we actually snip out a small portion of the mass from the testicle itself. We then examine this mass tissue, little piece of tissue from the testicle, under a microscope to determine whether we see any cancerous cell growth at all. This simple procedure, called the testicular biopsy, which should could be done very simply either in the doctor's office or in the clinic in the hospital."