Chemical castration with intratesticular injection of 20% hypertonic saline: a minimally invasive method.

Objectives: Our aim was to ablate testicular tissue by hypertonic saline solution in a rat model, thereby to discover a minimally invasive alternative method to medical and surgical castration in patients with metastatic prostate carcinoma.

Methods: A total of 40 male Wistar rats were divided into orchiectomy (n = 20) and experimental groups. In the experimental group, 20% (n = 20) hypertonic saline solution was injected into the rat testes. Blood was taken prior to, 1 day, and 30 days after the intervention for testosterone determination. All testicles were surgically removed for pathologic examination.

Results: Skin infection, necrosis, and testicular abscess were not detected in any rat. Pathologic examination revealed necrosis in almost all areas of the testicle. The comparison of 0, day 1, and day 30 measurements of total testosterone did not reveal a statistically significant difference between the control and hypertonic saline groups at each of the three time points (Mann-Whitney U-test, P > 0.05).

Conclusions: Intratesticular hypertonic saline injection seems to be an alternative method in the future to its rivals such as orchiectomy and medical castration. This new approach offers a minimally invasive and less expensive method aside from preserving body image in metastatic prostatic carcinoma. However, our conclusions should be supported with more experimental studies before a clinical study is taken into account.