MLB: Chicago White Sox at Detroit Tigers

Jose Abreu Needed Emergency Surgery for Testicular Torsion

As BP South Side’s resident medical expert, I’ve been asked to write about or at least help explain numerous injuries and surgeries that happen throughout the long baseball season. Yes, technically I’m a doctor of animals, but a body is a body and I can tell you when and what parts of a knee have blown out as it happens. Shoulders falling apart? I’m your man. I never expected I would be writing about testicular torsion, but apparently there’s a time for everything.

Jose Abreu has been on the shelf recently due to what was initially described as emergency lower abdomen surgery. While we waited for more details, I started thinking of potential differential diagnoses. Herniation, torn oblique, shattered coccyx. I did not once think testicular torsion.

So what is testicular torsion? Testicular torsion occurs when one (or both) of the testicles twists around itself (usually rotating inwards), resulting in a compression of blood flow through the spermatic vasculature. Think of it as a kinked garden hose: when you obstruct the passageway, you get back up and increased pressure as well as devitalization. This is an absolute surgical emergency as well as a tremendously painful condition. The good news is that it’s fixable and from everything we’ve heard, Jose should recover just fine with a bit more time away from playing. We wish him all the best in his recovery.

Photo credit: Rick Osentoski- USA Today

 

 

Related Articles

2 comments on “Jose Abreu Needed Emergency Surgery for Testicular Torsion”

Docgreedo

For more information see the Venture Bros. Season 1 Episode 9- “Are You There God, It’s Me, Dean”.

Mark Primiano

Not embedding the PSA clip from the end of the episode was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

Leave a comment

Use your Baseball Prospectus username