How to Understand Testicular Cancer

Transcript My name is Dr. Dhiren Dave. I’m a urologist at Somerset Medical Center located in Somerville, New Jersey. For information about our hospital, you can go to our website at www.somersetmedicalcenter.com. I specialize in urologic oncology, which is the treatment of cancers of the urinary tract. This includes cancers of the kidney, of the …

Transcript Many of the current treatment strategies that are used for the treatment of testicular cancer have been developed through academic institutions, where they were able to conduct research to confirm that these treatments are effective in curing testicular cancer. By the same token, the latest and most groundbreaking work that is being done in …

Transcript Specific cancer treatment can involve a multi-modal treatment approach, which means there may be a combination of various treatments. These treatments can include surgery, can include radiation therapy, and or chemotherapy. All of these types of treatments can have certain impacts on a patient. The surgery can carry certain risks, or potential side effects. …

Transcript When a patient has suspected testicular cancer and presents for their initial evaluation, the physician is generally going to do an examination to examine the testicle. They will often draw some lab work, some blood work, where we evaluate for what are called the testicular tumor markers. We’re looking for certain proteins that can …

Transcript When we talk about treatment for testicular cancer, there’s various factors that we look at. We look at the stage of the disease, the type of testicular cancer you have, whether it’s seminoma or non-seminoma. And we look at the status of your testicular tumor markers. These are proteins that are produced by testicular …

Transcript Conventional therapy for testicular cancer generally employs a combination of surgery with a possible use of radiation therapy, and or chemo therapy for the treatment of the condition. Now these are what we refer to as the conventional medical treatments. Many patients often ask about the possibility of complimentary or alternative therapies for their …

Transcript Testicular cancer is not the most common cancer in America. It affects approximately one in 250 men throughout the span of their lifetime. Because of the relatively lower incidence of the cancer, in order to understand how the cancer works, and what are good treatment options, and how to identify the best treatments for …

Transcript When a patient presents with testicular cancer, most commonly, there will be a lump or a mass within the testicle. In some cases, if the mass is large, then it can be visibly seen, or it can be seen within the scrotal area. Because it’s a mass involving the testicle, it will just have …

Transcript Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done to actually prevent testicular cancer. But, there are things that can be done to detect it early. And the key to treatment of any cancer is early detection. Many patients come in for various cancer conditions and ask, “Are there any diets that I could be …

Transcript So, often when patients present with testicular cancer, because the testicles are involved, patients are often concerned about their ability to have sexual performance either during treatments or after treatments. Now, there can be several potential impacts on sexual function as a result of some of the therapies that we have for testicular cancer. …

Transcript Anybody who presents with the possibility of a testicular cancer, we actually counsel and advise them to bank their sperm. Unless of course, the patient has no desire to father children. But even in those cases I still recommend the patients actually bank their sperm. The reason is that many of the treatments that …

Transcript Testicular cancer can present in many ways. Most commonly, when a patient comes with testicular cancer it will be confined to the testicle. However, in several cases there can be spreaded testicular cancer. And testicular cancer is known to spread in a very predictable fashion. It first goes to the lymph nodes that exist …

Transcript When we talk about surgery for testicular cancer, there are two prominent surgeries or commonly performed surgeries that we do as urologists. Almost all testicular cancer patients will undergo a procedure called a radical inguinal orchiectomy. This is a procedure where by the testis is removed through an incision in the groin area and …

Transcript When we talk about prognosis for testicular cancer, what we’re talking about is the chances of survival. Chances of surviving the cancer. What is your outcome going to be? And what are the odds that you’re going to have certain outcomes? And the great thing about testicular cancer is it’s a very highly treatable …

Transcript Stage three testicular cancer refers to testicular cancer that has extensively spread to other parts of the body. Now testicular cancer spreads in a predictable manner. It originates in the testicle in most cases and usually first will spread to the abdominal lymph nodes and from there can spread to the lymph nodes in …

Transcript Stage 2 testicular cancer refers to cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes and the abdominal region. Testicular cancer spreads via a predictable route. Although it usually originates in the testicle, it can spread first to the abdominal lymph nodes. From there it can spread to the lymph nodes of the chest. And …

Transcript When we talk about staging of testicular cancer, we are talking about the extent of spread of the cancer. Although the cancer usually originates within the testicle, it has the ability to spread to other parts of the body. And testicular cancer spreads in a very predictable manner. It first spreads to the lymph …

Transcript Though there are several types of testicular cancer, 95% of testicular cancers are what we call germ cell tumors. These are tumors that arise from the sperm-producing cells within the testicle. Of germ cell tumors, we tend to categorize testicular cancers into two broad categories. And this includes seminoma and nonseminomatous germ cell tumors. …

Transcript As a urologist and a member of the American Urological Association, we actually recommend that all men perform a testicular self-examination approximately once per month. There are other organizations that say it’s not necessary to do that. However, we know that if you have increased risk of testicular cancer, such as a family history …

Transcript Cancer of any type is always concerning to patients and anxiety-provoking, and naturally so. When I see a patient with testicular cancer, the first thing I try to do is reassure them because if there’s any type of cancer to have testicular cancer is probably the best one to have. It is highly treatable …

Transcript For most forms of testicular cancer, patients present at an early stage and the tumor happens to be confined at the testicle. When we do what we call a staging evaluation, we look for spread of cancer elsewhere. We often don’t find any presence of cancer elsewhere. But, there is a percentage of patients …

Transcript Chemotherapy is a form of therapy for cancer where medications are infused through IVs into the body to help kill cancer cells. With many types of chemotherapy and for a testicular cancer we use certain types of chemotherapy. Not everybody with testicular cancer will require chemotherapy, but in general, situations that may use chemotherapy …

Transcript When we talk about treatments for testicular cancer, we talk about various modalities including surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. We know that testicular cancer is highly responsive to all of these treatment modalities. In fact, the survival rate for testicular cancer is very high, exceeding 90% to 95% if patients follow the appropriate recommendations …

Transcript So when we discuss surgery for testicular cancer what we’re talking about usually the initial surgery that is done is a procedure that is done is called a radical inguinal orchiectomy. What that means orchiectomy refers to the removal of the testicle. The word radical implies that you’re doing it for the purpose of …

Transcript Often the diagnosis of testicular cancer is either made or suspected by your primary care physician or a urologist, if you get referred to a urologist. In general, you undergo an evaluation because there is a suspicion that you may have testicular cancer, and this usually involves some sort of pathology related to the …

Transcript The main risk factors for development of testicular cancer are family history of testicular cancer. So if you have a relative who has had it in the past, then you are at an increased risk of testicular cancer. The second most significant risk factor would be history of what’s called an un-descended testicle, or …

Transcript As with many cancers, we can’t necessarily pinpoint the exact cause of testicular cancer. We know that it’s due to some form of genetic mutations that occur within the cells of the testicle that causes the abnormal growth of these cells, and causes them to become cancerous. We do know, however, that there are …

Transcript Most commonly testicular cancer usually presents with a mass that appears within the testicle. There may be things that occur that draw the patient’s attention to that mass, for example pain or discomfort in the groin area or trauma. Sometimes people have trauma to the area and all of a sudden it draws attention …

Transcript Testicular cancer is a cancer that affects approximately one in 250 men, in the span of their lifetime with an incidence of about 0.4%. Notably, it affects most commonly men between 20 and 40, so of all cancers that affect men between the ages of 20 and 40, testicular cancer is the most common …