A MAN became the first to be diagnosed with a “whistle scrotum” in a bizarre medical phenomenon.
The 72-year-old, whose name was not mentioned, showed up at A&E in Ohio and complained about his melodic genitals, as well as a swollen face and tight chest.
1
When doctors performed scans on the distressed man, they found a life-threatening problem.
Air leaked from his lungs and into the space between the lungs and chest.
This caused his lungs to collapse (pneumothorax), and on physical examination it was found that the man had a cracking sound over his chest.
His collapsed lungs also led to subcutaneous emphysema – when air is trapped in tissues under the skin.
The air was mainly trapped in the tissues of the stomach, scrotum and perineum.
Although it is not necessarily dangerous and does not even require treatment, complications can occur that put pressure on the heart and lungs.
Doctors then discovered the man had an open wound on the left side of his scrotum from an operation about five months earlier.
It was this peculiar finding that solved the mystery of his whistling scrotum.
The wound became a way for the trapped air to leave, causing the whistle, medics explained in the American Journal of Case Reports.
Two plastic tubes were placed in the patient’s chest to help drain the excess air.
But his condition worsened when he was moved to another hospital for treatment.
Another test tube was added and luckily the picture started to improve over three days.
But the excess gas remained in the man’s scrotum, thighs, perineum and abdomen.
The man suffered for an additional two years, which was described as an “abnormally long time.”
Air that is specifically trapped in the scrotum is called pneumoscrotum, and only 60 cases have been described previously.
But Dr Brant Bickford and his team said “none of the previously documented cases included a route for air to escape from the chest cavity outside the body, which was the case with our patient with an open wound in the scrotum “.
Therefore, they will probably be the first to describe a whistling body part.
The man had to undergo two more procedures in his scrotum to relieve the trapped air.
Doctors never worked out why the man ended up with trapped air and collapsed lungs, which is usually caused by a chest injury.