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Testicular cancer is cancer that starts in the testicles, the male
reproductive organ. The exact cause of testicular cancer is unknown.
There is no link between vasectomy and testicular cancer. Factors that
may increase a man's risk for testicular cancer include:
- History of testiclular cancer
- History of undescended testicle
- Abnormal testicular cancer
Other
possible causes include exposure to certain chemicals and HIV
infection. A family history of testicular cancer may also increase the
risk. Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men between the
ages of 15 and 35. It can occur in older men, and rarely, younger boys.
White men are more likely than African-American and Asian-American men
to develop this type of cancer.
There are two
main types of testicular cancer: seminomas and nonseminomas. These
cancers grow from germ cells, the cells that make sperm.
- Seminoma:
This is a slow-growing type of testicular cancer usually found in men
in their 30's and 40's. The cancer is usually just in the testes, but
can spread to the lymph nodes. Seminomas are very sensitive to
radiation therapy.
- Nonseminoma:
This more common type of testicular cancer tends to grow more quickly
than seminomas. Nonseminoma tumors are often made up of more than one
type of cell, and are identified according to these different cell
types:
- Choriocarcinoma
- Embryonal carcinoma
- Teratoma
- Yolk Sac tumor
In
the United States, between 7,500 and 8,000 diagnoses of testicular
cancer are made each year. In the UK, approximately 2,000 men are
diagnosed each year. Over his lifetime, a man's risk of testicular
cancer is roughly 1 in 250 (0.4%). It is the most common cancer in
males aged 20–39 years, the period of peak incidence, and is rarely
seen before the age of 15 years.Testicular cancer has one of the
highest cure rates of all cancers: in excess of 90 percent; essentially
100 percent if it has not spread (metastasized). Even for the
relatively few cases in which malignant cancer has spread widely,
modern chemotherapy offers a cure rate of at least 80%.[6] Not all
lumps on the testicles are tumors, and not all tumors are malignant;
there are many other conditions such as testicular microlithiasis,
epididymal cysts, appendix testis (hydatid of Morgagni), and so on
which may be painful but are non-cancerous.