Made by DATEXIS (Data Science and Text-based Information Systems) at Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin
Deep Learning Technology: Sebastian Arnold, Betty van Aken, Paul Grundmann, Felix A. Gers and Alexander Löser. Learning Contextualized Document Representations for Healthcare Answer Retrieval. The Web Conference 2020 (WWW'20)
Funded by The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy; Grant: 01MD19013D, Smart-MD Project, Digital Technologies
Because polyorchidism is very uncommon, there is no standard treatment for the condition. Prior to advances in ultrasound technology, it was common practice to remove the supernumerary testicle. Several cases have been described where routine follow-up examinations conducted over a period of years showed that the supernumerary testicle was stable.
A meta-analysis in 2009 suggested removing non-scrotal supernumerary testicles because of the increased risk of cancer, and regular follow-up in the remaining cases to ensure that the supernumerary testicle remains stable.
Most cases of polyorchidism are asymptomatic, and are discovered incidentally, in the course of treating another condition. In the majority of cases, the supernumerary testicle is found in the scrotum.
However, polyorchidism can occur in conjunction with cryptorchidism, where the supernumerary testicle is undescended or found elsewhere in the body. These cases are associated with a significant increase in the incidence of testicular cancer: 0.004% for the general population vs 5.7% for a supernumerary testicle not found in the scrotum.
Polyorchidism can also occur in conjunction with infertility, inguinal hernia, testicular torsion, epididymitis, hydrocele testis and varicocele. However, it is not clear whether polyorchidism causes or aggravates these conditions, or whether the existence of these conditions leads sufferers to seek medical attention and thus become diagnosed with a previously undetected supernumerary testicle.
Supernumerary body parts are most commonly a congenital disorder involving the growth of an additional part of the body and a deviation from the body plan. Body parts may be easily visible or hidden away, such as internal organs.
Many additional body parts form by the same process as conjoined twins: the zygote begins to split but fails to completely separate. This condition may also be a symptom of repeated occurrences of continuous inbreeding in a genetic line.
Specific types of additional body parts include:
- Accessory breast – one or more additional breasts
- Accessory spleen – one or more additional spleens
- Cervical rib – an additional rib
- Diphallia - Having two penes/penises.
- Hermaphroditism – having both sexes' sex organs
- Hyperdontia – additional teeth
- Pelvic digit – a bony growth in the soft tissue of the pelvic region
- Polycephaly – an extra head
- Polydactyly – additional fingers or toes
- Polymelia — an extra arm or leg.
- Polyorchidism – having three or more testicles
- Supernumerary bones – these additional bones are fairly common, particularly in the feet, and are frequently mistaken for fractures on x-rays.
- Supernumerary kidney – a third kidney
- Supernumerary nipples – an additional nipple
- Supernumerary phantom limbs – where the brain acts as though a limb were there, but it is not.
- Syndactyly – webbing between the fingers or toes
- Uterus didelphys – two vaginal canals and/or uteri