LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Canadian doctors were scanning through ultrasound images of a 45-year-old man with a painful mass in his testicles when they were confronted with the image of a man's face staring up at them, the mouth grimacing as if he were in severe pain.

"It looked like a man screaming in pain, which I thought was hilarious considering the clinical picture of the poor guy," Dr. G. Gregory Roberts, School of Medicine at Queen's University, Kingston said.

Roberts and urologist Dr. Naji J. Touma reported the discovery in a recent issue of the medical journal Urology. The phenomenon was rated as being up there with other dubious visitations.

"The Face of Testicular Pain: A Surprising Ultrasound Finding," was the title of article. Doctors said that upon spotting the distinctive tumor, 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."

People have seen holy images in all kinds of random items, but this is certainly a most bizarre appearance in a testicular ultrasound.

"Ultrasounds are just a bunch of pixels that occasionally look like recognizable things, such as faces. But I have never seen such a perfect image before," Roberts said.

The article was meant as a little inside joke between urologists known more for helping men with their erectile dysfunction and prostate problems. The story has since gone "viral."

When the doctors informed the patient about the image, he wasn't very interested in the remarkable mirage. "I think the patient was just relieved it wasn't cancer," the newspaper reported.

The patient opted for an orchiectomy (removal of the testicle) and the tumor was found to be benign.

© 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.