Lymphatics from the testes drain via channels that ascend in the spermatic cord, pass through the inguinal canal, and course up the posterior abdominal wall to connect directly with lateral aortic or lumbar nodes and pre-aortic nodes around the aorta, at approximately vertebral levels LI and LII. Therefore disease from the testes tracks superiorly to nodes high in the posterior abdominal wall and not to inguinal or iliac nodes.
Surface anatomy of the pelvis and perineum