The lighter side of scientific fraud

Sometimes scientific fraud endangers patients, wastes precious public funding, and sullies the reputations of journals, researchers, and science in general. Other times it's just hilarious.

Such is the case with "cello scrotum." In 1974, a British doctor sent a very short letter to the British Medical Journal (BMJ) describing a case of the disorder in one of her patients, a professional cellist. Elaine Murphy, then a professor at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London, has admitted to inventing the condition and submitting the joke letter, which was signed by her husband John. To the pair's surprise, the letter was accepted by the BMJ and published in the journal's May 11 issue.

"I did once come across a case of 'cello scrotum' caused by irritation from the body of the cello. The patient in question was a professional musician and played in rehearsal, practice, or concert for several hours each day," the 1974 letter reads.

Murphy's letter was written in response to a letter published months earlier in the BMJ reporting cases of "guitar nipple," a skin condition seen in three young girls learning to play classical guitar.

"Perhaps after 34 years it's time for us to confess that we invented cello scrotum," wrote Murphy and her husband, in the latest edition of the BMJ. "We thought [guitar nipple] highly likely to be a spoof, and decided to go one further by submitting a similar phenomenon in cellists. Anyone who has ever watched a cello being played would realise the physical impossibility of our claim."

The issue came up again because a recent report in BMJ referenced cello scrotum (among other dermatological disorders suffered by professional musicians, such as "cellist's chest" and "cello knee"), adding the caveat that "the awkward playing position required to produce [cello scrotum] make it a rarity that has been questioned."

The BMJ is even viewing the hoax with a bit of humor. "We may have to organize a formal retraction or correction now. Once these things get into the scientific literature, they stay there for good. But it all adds to the gaiety of life," a BMJ spokesperson told the BBC.

Talk of cello scrotum has come up in dermatology circles, namely in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, where a 1991 communication questioned the veracity of the disorder.