Boy, 12, almost lost his testicle after being thrown over handlebars of his dirt bike… which then landed straight on his genitals
- Boy was thrown from his dirt bike in Carolina which landed on his left testicle
- Trip to the hospital took five hours and doctors gave him an ultrasound
- He ruptured his testicle and was given urgent surgery where it was sewn up
A boy ruptured one of his testicles after a biking accident, a eye-watering medical report has revealed.
The 12-year-old, of North Carolina, was thrown over the handlebars of his dirt bike.
His bike landed straight onto his genitals, smashing his left testicle in the process and leaving him in agony.
Because he was biking in the wilderness, it took him five hours to get to a casualty unit in Chapel Hill.
A boy nearly lost a testicle after he was thrown from the handlebars of a dirt bike that then landed on his privates in North Carolina [stock image]
When the boy — who wasn’t identified — finally arrived, doctors wanted to see the true extent of his grisly injury.
Scan revealed he had ruptured a testicle, when the thick fibrous tissue surrounding it, called the tunica albuginea, breaks.
He was rushed to a specialist centre for surgery, in order to save his genitals.
Doctors quickly sewed up the rip to salvage the testicle, with the boy making a full recovery.
But he could have suffered problems with fertility or even lost the testicle if he had not been treated as quickly as he was, doctors suggested.
His case was published in the Visual Journal of Emergency Medicine.
The report did not make clear whether he was with his parents or how he made his way to hospital.
Had the boy not gone to hospital as quickly as possible, the chance of him losing the testicle would have been higher, doctors said.
Writing in the case report, they said: ‘Surgical intervention within 72 hours is associated with a higher likelihood of testicular salvage in testicular rupture cases.
‘Delay in surgical repair of the tunica albuginea may result in loss of reproductive or endocrine function and a lower probability of salvage.’
The NHS advises men to go to A&E immediately if they have sudden or sever pain in a testicle.
Pain which lasts more than hour, that continues while resting or is accompanied by stomach pain can indicate something serious.
This could include testicular torsion, when the organ has twisted, which can lead to a cutting off the blood supply and testicles having to be removed.