Table 3.
Descriptive Results in the Testes/Scrotum of Patients With COVID-19.
| First author [reference number] | Sample size (N) | Age, median (min-max), years | Disease stage/severity | Confirmed disease duration (d) | Hospital stay (d) | Comorbidity | Fever (n, %) | Testicular/Scrotal symptoms | Cause of death | Ultrasonography | CT | Urine microbiological investigations | Pathological investigation | Nasopharyngeal/Oropharyngeal swab qRT-PCR | Testicular sample qRT-PCR positive (n, %) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song C (16) | 1 | 67 | Acute | 41 | 41 | No comorbidity | 1 (100) | NA | COVID-19 | NA | Chest CT were patchy shadowing | NA | NA | Positive | NA |
| Li H (24) | 6 | 69.3 (51-83) | Deceased | 14.1 (0-23) | 17 (5-21) | Hypertension | 3 (50) | NA | COVID-19 | NA | NA | NA | Interstitial edema and congestion were both in testes and epididymides, the proportion of apoptotic cells, T-lymphocyte (CD3+) and macrophage (CD68+) infiltration in the testes of COVID-19 deceased patients was significantly increased, IgG was presented within seminiferous tubules and seminiferous tubules became thinner.a | Positive | 6 (100) |
| Özveri H (25) | 1 | 49 | Acute | 2 | 25 | Hyperlipidemia and insulin resistance | NA | Swelling and pain | Recovered | Spermatic cord inflammation with no orchitis | Normal | Negative | NA | Positive | 0 |
| Barton LM (26) | 2 | 59.5 (77-42) | Deceased | 1 | 1 | Hypertension, remote deep vein thrombosis, myotonic muscular dystrophy |
2 (100) | NA | COVID-19 | NA | Chest CT showed bilateral ground-glass opacities | NA | The 42-year old patient showed testicular atrophy and the 77-year old patient showed normal testis. | Positive | NA |
| Gagliardi L (27) | 1 | 14 | Acute | 1 | 8 | NA | 1 (100) | Swelling and pain | Recovered | Inflammation of the epididymis with reactive hydrocele | NA | Negative | NA | Positive | NA |
| Bridwell RE (28) | 1 | 37 | Acute | 15 | 2 | No comorbidity | 1 (100) | Swelling and pain | Recovered | Bilateral non-specific increased blood flow was present consistent with orchitis. | Peripheral mid to lower hazy pulmonary opacities | Negative | NA | Positive | NA |
| Marca AL (29) | 1 | 43 | Acute | 1 | 4 | Type 1 diabetes | 1 (100) | Severe bilateral testicular pain | Irreversible cardiogenic shock | Left epididymis with mild accentuation of the vascularization pattern, epididymitis. | Multiple thickening concomitant with bilateral consolidations. |
Negative | NA | Positive | NA |
| Duarte-Neto AN (30) | 2 | 69(mean) | Deceased | 2 | 5 | Systemic arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, Chronic cardiopathy | 2 (100) | NA | COVID-19 | NA | NA | NA | Orchitis. | Positive | NA |
| Achua JK (31) | 6 | 56(20-87) | Deceased | 11 (2-36) | 2 (0-6) | Type 2 diabetes meletus, cardiovascular disease, hypertension | NA | NA | COVID-19 | NA | NA | NA | Three patients had impaired spermatogenesis, interstitial macrophage and leukocyte infiltration. | Positive | 1 (16.6) |
| Caner E (32) | 10 | 46 | Acute | 10 | NA | NA | NA | Swelling and pain | Recovered | NA | NA | NA | NA | Positive | NA |
| Chen L (33) | 32 | 70.3 | Acute | 14.6 (9-27) | NA | Chronic kidney disease, diabetes, Coronary heart disease | 13 | Swelling and pain | b | Acute orchitis, epididymitis, or epididymo-orchitis | Changes characteristic of viral pneumonia |
NA | NA | Positive | NA |
| Ma X (34) | 5 | 68.8 (51-83) | Deceased | 5 | 16.2 (5-29) | Hypertension, Coronary disease | NA | NA | COVID-19 | NA | Bilateralground-glassopacities | NA | Numerous degenerated germ cells had sloughed into the lumen of seminiferous tubules, the number of germ cell marker positive cells was dramatically reduced.f | Positive | 2 (40) |
| Yang M (35) | 12 | 65 | Acute | 42 (23-75) | NA | Hypertension, chronic renal disease, coronary heart disease8 | 10 (83.3) | NA | COVID-19 | NA | NA | NA | Sertoli cells showed swelling, vacuolation and cytoplasmic rarefaction, detachment from tubular basement membranes, and loss and sloughing into lumens of the intratubular cell mass. Interstitial edema, mild inflammatory infiltration, composed of T lymphocytes and histiocytes. | Positive | 1 (8.3) |
| Alkhatatbeh H (36) | 253 | 43 (1-78) | Acute | 15 (9-21) | NA | NA | 200c (79.1) | No testicular or scrotal symptoms | Recoveredd | No testicular or scrotal symptoms | Radiographic evidence of pneumonia e | Negative | NA | Positive | NA |
aCompared with age-matched prostate cancer patients. bThe author did not specify the number of patients who recovered or died in these 32 cases. c153 patients with mild symptoms. dFive (2%) patients died of COVID-19. e200 patients had CT examination. fCompared with age-matched non-infected patients. CT, Chest computed tomography; COVID-19, Coronavirus Disease 2019; qRT-PCR, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction; NA, Not applicable.