Testicular cancer: What you should know

Key Takeaways

• Testicular cancer isn’t preventable, but it is highly treatable and curable.
• It’s most common in men between the ages of 15 and 35.
• Typical symptoms are a painless lump or asymmetry between the two sides.
• Testicular cancer is primarily diagnosed with ultrasound.
• Depending on the stage, treatment can range from surgical removal of the tumor to radiation therapy and chemotherapy.
• Fertility preservation is possible.

Did you know that testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men ages 15 to 35?

The bad news is that there’s no specific blood test, and it’s not typically screened for.

The good news is that it is one of the most curable cancers we treat, especially when it’s caught in its earliest stages.

Let’s get into it.

Prevention

Unfortunately, testicular cancer can’t be prevented. As opposed to other types of cancer where we know there’s certain risk factors we can prevent, when it comes to testicular cancer, it’s typically genetic.

We don’t have any modifiable risk factors or things that you can do, such as stopping smoking, which is an important thing to do.

It happens when abnormal cells grow in the germ cell in testicles that produce sperm.

What increases your risk is family history or being born with a testicle that hadn’t descended all the way. There isn’t anything you can do to prevent either one of those things.

Symptoms

In order to catch testicular cancer early, men need to become familiar with their bodies and do monthly self-exams of each testicle in the shower.

The typical symptoms are a painless lump or some asymmetry between the two sides.

If a man detects some asymmetry or a lump or bump or something abnormal, we tell them not to ignore it and to come in and get tested.

Diagnosis

The first test we do for testicular cancer is a really simple, easy test: an ultrasound.

It’s a fast, very highly reliable way to check for an abnormality in the testicle, and it’s not invasive.

You don’t have to see a urologist to get an ultrasound. It can be ordered by your primary care provider.

Treatment

If we catch it very early, it may just require surgery simply just to remove the testicle.

At more advanced stages, testicular cancer typically spreads to lymph nodes in the abdomen. In that case, we have to surgically remove those lymph nodes. Sometimes we have to use chemotherapy to treat them.

Curability

Overall, it’s highly curable. There’s a 95 percent survival rate with testicular cancer, and if we detect it very early, it’s over 99 percent curable. Even advanced metastatic testicular cancer is very curable.

Misconceptions

A common misconception is that if you get treated for testicular cancer or are worried that you have it, you may not be able to have children.

We can connect you with our colleagues at the WVU Medicine Center for Reproductive Medicine while you’re undergoing treatment for this sensitive area that could affect your fertility.

We can work around your testicular cancer to make sure we preserve fertility in younger men and make sure you still have the ability to have a family.

Time is of the essence

Once a month, examine your testicles, make sure you don’t feel any lumps or bumps or anything different.

As soon as you notice something different, don’t hesitate. Don’t put it off. Come in and see us, and we can check to see if anything’s wrong and treat it right away.

At the WVU Cancer Institute, we treat a large volume of patients with this problem at all different stages, and we have a highly specialized team of doctors who work on testicular cancer in many different ways.

We have surgeons like me. We also have radiation oncologists, pathologists, and medical oncologists who give chemotherapy, all of whom have completed specialized training in testicular cancer.

We can provide the highest level of care right here at home without people having to leave the region to find it.

For more information, visit WVUCancer.org.