Important Facts about Testicular Cancer

Testicular cancer is also known as the cancer of the testes or the testicles. This condition is very rare compared to other known types of cancers. But in the United States, testicular cancer is one of the most common types of cancer found in men from the age of 15 to 34. Inspite of all these facts, the cause of this condition is still quite unknown.

The symptoms of testicular cancer may include the following; unexplained fatigue, an enlargement or a lump in either of the testicles, groin or abdominal pain, discomfort or pain in either the testicles or the scrotum, a sudden accumulation of fluid and heaviness of the scrotum and tenderness and enlargement of the breasts. Testicular cancer is usually affecting only one of the testicles.

Most often the cause of testicular cancer begins with the production of immature sperm cells that gradually develops into germ cells which is the possible cause of this disease. But what causes these germ cells to evolve into cancer is still unkown. Even if this is the case, researchers found some risk factors which may lead to the cause, such as family history, age, race, abnormality in the development of the testicles and cryptorchidism or an undescended testicle. 

Testicular cancer may be acquired by men who have this condition in their family history and this type of cancer can occur in men at any given age. White males are more susceptible to testicular cancer than men with darker skin colors but incidences of racial differences for the reason of testicular cancer are also unknown. A condition where there’s an abnormality with the development of the testicles, the risks of getting testicular cancer is much higher. Men with undescended testicles are also in greater risks to be susceptible with this type of cancer compared to other men, but then the majority of men with testicular cancer didn’t have histories of undescended testicles.

Most testicular cancers are discovered unintentionally, but in most cases detection of lumps in the testicles may happen during routine physical examinations. To determine whether or not it is a testicular cancer or not, your doctor may recommend further tests such as blood tests and ultrasounds.  Once the lump is detected to be cancerous your doctor might recommend removing your testicles otherwise known as radical inguinal orchiectomy. In general when testicular cancer is suspected, removal of the lump or a simple biopsy might not be used alone, but in cases where you only have one testicle left, this might be an option.

There are two types of testicular cancer, seminoma and nonseminoma. Seminomas are concurrence in all age groups and sensitive to therapies done with radiation but it is not as aggressive as nonseminomas. Nonseminomas are tumors that tend to develop very early in life which grows and can spread very rapidly. Once the diagnoses are confirmed the next stage is to determine the stage of the testicular cancer. This will determine if the cancer has spread outside of the testicles. There are three stages of this condition, stage one is where the cancer is only limited to the testicles. Stage two is determined when the spread of the cancer cells have reached the lymph nodes of the abdomen. Stage three is when the cancer has spread to the other parts of the body such as the brain, lungs, bone, and liver which is very common to happen with testicular cancer.