Testicular cancer

Testicular cancer is cancer that develops in the testicles, a part of the male reproductive system. In the United States, between 7,500 and 8,000 diagnoses of testicular cancer are made each year. Over his lifetime, a man's risk of testicular cancer is roughly 1 in 250 (four tenths of one percent, or 0.4 percent).Testicular cancer has one of the highest cure rates of all cancers: in excess of 90 percent; essentially 100 percent if it has not metastasized.



Testicular cancer is most common among whites and rare among men of African descent.[3] Testicular cancer is uncommon in Asia and Africa.Germ cell tumors of the testis are the most common cancer in young men between the ages of 15 and 35 years.
A major risk factor for the development of testis cancer is cryptorchidism (undescended testicles). Physical activity is associated with decreased risk and sedentary lifestyle is associated with increased risk.A testicular mass can be palpated. Men should examine each testicle, feeling for pea-shaped lumps. Blood tests are also used to identify and measure tumor markers that are specific to testicular cancer. A biopsy should not be performed, as it raises the risk of migrating cancer cells into the scrotum.

A transscrotal biopsy or orchiectomy will potentially leave cancer cells in the scrotum and create two vectors for cancer spread, while in an inguinal orchiectomy only the retroperitoneal route exists.

Diagnosis
The cardinal diagnostic finding in the patient with testis cancer is a mass in the substance of the testis. Unilateral enlargement of the testis with or without pain in the adolescent or young adult male should raise concern for testis cancer.The differential diagnosis of testicular cancer requires examining the histology of tissue obtained from an inguinal orchiectomy specimen. For orchiectomy, an inguinal surgical approach is preferred.Adjuvant treatments may involve chemotherapy, radiotherapy or careful surveillance by frequent CT scans and blood tests by oncologists.

Although testicular cancer can be derived from any cell type found in the testicles, more than 95% of testicular cancers are germ cell tumors.The three basic types of treatment are surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy.In most patients with testicular cancer, the disease is cured readily with minimal long-term morbidity.
While it may be possible, in some cases, to remove testicular cancer tumors from a testis while leaving the testis functional, this is almost never done, as more than 95% of testicular tumors are malignant.

Lymph node surgery may also be performed after chemotherapy to remove masses left behind, particularly in the cases of advanced initial cancer or large nonseminomas.
Radiation may be used to treat stage II seminoma cancers, or as adjuvant (preventative) therapy in the case of stage I seminomas, to minimize the likelihood that tiny, non-detectable tumors exist and will spread (in the inguinal and para-aortic lymph nodes).

While treatment success depends on the stage, the average survival rate after five years is around 95%, and stage I cancers cases (if monitored properly) have essentially a 100% survival rate (which is why prompt action, when testicular cancer is a possibility, is extremely important).Less than five percent of those who have testicular cancer will have it again in the remaining testis.

Lance Armstrong, American cyclist, developed testicular cancer in 1996.In 2001, following treatment for testicular cancer, Craig Forrest, a Canadian soccer goalkeeper started a yearlong awareness campaign.