Testicular Cancer Awareness

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

Klinefelter Syndrome

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.