Spread the Word! April is Testicular Cancer Awareness Month

Testicular cancer – do you know the signs and symptoms?

Charles H. Weaver, MD
2–3 minutes
Home » News » Spread the Word! April is Testicular Cancer Awareness Month

As the month of April brings testicular cancer into focus, it’s time to increase public understanding of the disease, including its prevalence, approaches to screening and prevention, treatment options, and resources that offer updated testicular cancer information throughout the year.

The testicles are made up of different types of cells, each with the potential to develop into one or more types of cancer. The bulk of testicular cancers (90%), develop in cells known as germ cells—the cells that make sperm. The two main types of germ cell tumors (GCTs) in men are seminomas and non-seminomas and they occur about evenly, and are further sub-typed from there.

In the US, the incidence rate of testicular cancer has been increasing for several decades without evidence pointing to any particular lead as to why. Still, testicular cancer is not common: about 1 in every 263 males will develop it. It can also usually be treated successfully, and a man’s risk of dying from the disease is very low.

This doesn’t mean that one shouldn’t acquaint themselves with the possible risk factors and signs and symptoms of testicular cancer. April is the perfect month to do that. Help spread the word!

Symptoms include: 

  • Lump or swelling in the testicle. Most often, this is the first symptom of testicular cancer. 
  • Some testicular tumors cause pain, but often they don’t. 
  • Men with testicular cancer can also have a feeling of heaviness or aching in the lower abdomen or scrotum. 
  • Acute testicular pain. About 10% of patients with testicular cancer have a chief complaint of acute pain, which can be attributable to rapid tumor growth. 
  • Abdominal mass or pain. The spread of testicular cancer to the retroperitoneal lymph nodes (the most common site of metastases) can present as an abdominal mass that may be painful. 
  • Back pain. Testicular cancer can directly invade the back muscles or the nerves coming from the spine. Breast growth or soreness. 
  • Abnormal breast enlargement occurs in about 2% of men with testicular cancer. This can be caused by chemicals secreted by certain types of testicular cancers, decreased levels of testosterone due to the tumor, or increased levels of estrogen because of the tumor. 
  •  Neck masses. The lymph nodes around the neck, particularly on the left side, are a common place for testicular cancer to spread. Shortness of breath, chest pain or a cough (even coughing up blood) may develop from cancer that has spread to the lungs. 

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References:

  1. American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts and Figures 2021. Accessed March 31, 2021.
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