This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Sign in
Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages without signing in

Prehn's sign

Authoring team

Prehn's sign is used to discriminate between bacterial epididymitis and testicular torsion. Scrotal elevation relieves pain in epididymitis but not torsion.

Study evidence showed (1):

  • in multivariate analysis, a positive Prehn’s sign was predictive of testicular torsion, whereas fever, dysuria, high leucocyte counts in blood and/or urine, high blood C-reactive protein, and burning pain were predictive of genital/paragenital infection
  • 33% of patients with testicular torsion had a positive Prehn's sign at presentation

Reference:

  • Roth B, Giannakis I, Ricklin ME, Thalmann GN, Exadaktylos AK. An Accurate Diagnostic Pathway Helps to Correctly Distinguish Between the Possible Causes of Acute Scrotum. Oman Med J. 2018 Jan;33(1):55-60.

Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Create a free account

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.

The content herein is provided for informational purposes and does not replace the need to apply professional clinical judgement when diagnosing or treating any medical condition. A licensed medical practitioner should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.

Connect

Copyright 2025 Oxbridge Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of OmniaMed Communications Limited. All rights reserved. Any distribution or duplication of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. Oxbridge Solutions receives funding from advertising but maintains editorial independence.