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What is Testicular Cancer?
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Testicular cancer - a relatively rare cancer found primarily in young to middle-aged men - is among the most treatable of all cancers. Approximately 7,500 men are diagnosed with testicular cancer each year in the United States, and it currently ranks as the most common solid tumor occurring in men age 15 to 35. For unknown reasons, the incidence of testicular cancer has been rising steadily in the United States.
The testicles (also called the testes or gonads) are the male sex glands, responsible for producing sperm and synthesizing testosterone (the primary male sex hormone). Located within the scrotum - a thin-skinned pouch that lies directly under the penis - the two testicles are small, rather firm, oval-shaped structures, approximately the size of an olive. Sperm produced in the testes travel into the epidymis - a long, coiled tube that lies behind each testicle - where they mature over a period of three weeks. From here they move into a cordlike duct known as the vas deferens for temporary storage. The vas deferens, along with adjacent nerves and blood vessels, form a single structure known as the spermatic cord. During sexual activity, stored sperm in the vas deferens combines with nutrient fluids from the prostate and seminal vesicles to produce semen, which is ejaculated through the urethra.
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The vast majority of testicular cancers (approximately 95 percent) originate in germ cells, the undeveloped cells that produce sperm. There are two main categories of germ-cell tumors: seminomas and nonseminomas. Seminomas comprise approximately 40 percent of germ-cell tumors. The nonseminomas include teratoma, embryonal carcinoma and a rare, highly aggressive form of cancer called choriocarcinoma.
Thanks to the advent of highly effective treatments - including nerve-sparing surgical techniques that can preserve fertility and ejaculatory function - men with testicular cancer are living longer, healthier lives with fewer treatment-related side-effects.
Because there is no direct lymphatic connection between testicles, cancer in one testicle is unlikely to spread to the other. However, if left untreated, testicular cancer can spread through the spermatic cord to nearby lymph nodes and metastasize - or spread - to distant organs, most commonly the lungs or liver.
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