TESTICULAR CIRCULATORY ISOLATION IN MAN - COMPARISON OF RADIONUCLIDE ANGIOGRAPHY WITH DOPPLER EVALUATION

Testicular circulatory isolation (TCI) holds promise as a method to av oid drug-induced infertility in male patients about to receive cancer chemotherapy. Complete exclusion of blood flow to the testicle is esse ntial to the success of this technique. We have compared the hand-held Doppler probe and radionuclide angiography (technetium-99m pertechnet ate) as monitors of testicular blood flow in 10 patients subjected to unilateral TCI. When Doppler evaluation indicated that testicular circ ulation had been interrupted, the radionuclide angiogram uniformly con firmed and quantified this conclusion. These results validate the hand -held Doppler as an appropriate tool for assessing testicular blood fl ow in patients undergoing TCI. (C) 1993 Wiley-Liss. Inc.