Doctors were surprised to see a lifelike nose, mouth and eye staring back at them from the screen.
Dr Naji Touma, assistant professor of urology at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, said: “It was almost like art coming out of this patient’s testicles. It was an amusing finding.”
But Touma wasn’t spooked for long and isn’t convinced that it was anything more than a coincidence.
He said: “It’s purely coincidental. That’s what came to our mind, though, that somebody would look at this like the Virgin Mary on toast, but it’s not the case.”
The patient, a 45-year-old paraplegic, was in severe pain when he was admitted to hospital and had the testicle removed following the scan.
Despite looking much like a man in pain, the growth was benign.
A medical journal published the case under the title The Face of Testicular Pain: A Surprising Ultrasound Finding.
Doctors Touma and Gregory Roberts wrote in the article: “A brief debate ensued on whether the image could have been a sign from a deity (perhaps Min the Egyptian god of male virility); however, the consensus deemed it a mere coincidental occurrence rather than a divine proclamation.”
Touma added that the patient wasn’t fazed by the spooky face inside his testicle.
“I think the patient was just relieved it wasn’t cancer,” he said. “And once I told him he wasn’t particularly interested in the details of the ultrasound.”