A hydrocele may be present in patients with testicular cancer and may
increase the difficulty of detecting the neoplasm. Ultrasonography of
the scrotum is a rapid and reliable technique to exclude epididymitis
from the diagnosis and should be utilized with patients in whom a testicular
tumor is suspected. Before antibiotic treatment is initiated, the possibility
of a testicular tumor should be excluded. Needle aspiration of the hydrocele
should be discouraged, because it would alter the pattern of metastatic
spread in the event that a testicular tumor is present.
