When a man's symptoms suggest that there might be cancer in a testicle, a personal and family medical history is taken and a complete physical examination is conducted.
March 28, 2005 (Press Release) --
How is testicular cancer diagnosed?
When a man's symptoms suggest that there might be cancer in a testicle, a personal and family medical history is taken and a complete physical examination is conducted. In addition to checking general signs of health (temperature, pulse, blood pressure, and so on), the scrotum will be carefully examined. The patient will usually have an ultrasound, a chest x-ray, and blood and urine tests. If the ultrasound shows a solid mass inside the testicle, then cancer is presumed because most tumors in the testicles are cancerous. If the doctor says maybe it is an infection, prescribes antibiotics, and says to come back in 2-3 weeks, but does not order an ultrasound, be sure to ask why not. Testicular cancer is missed by the doctor the first time around almost 30% of the time. Since TC is so rare, they figure it must be something else. In this scenario, it is important that you remember to follow up or ask to be seen by a urologist!
The only sure way to know whether cancer is present is for a pathologist to examine a sample of tissue under a microscope. To obtain the tissue, the affected testicle is removed through the groin. This operation is called inguinal orchiectomy. The surgeon does not cut through the scrotum and does not remove just a part of the testicle because, if the problem is cancer, cutting through the outer layer of the testicle might cause a local spread of the disease.
When a man's symptoms suggest that there might be cancer in a testicle, a personal and family medical history is taken and a complete physical examination is conducted. In addition to checking general signs of health (temperature, pulse, blood pressure, and so on), the scrotum will be carefully examined. The patient will usually have an ultrasound, a chest x-ray, and blood and urine tests. If the ultrasound shows a solid mass inside the testicle, then cancer is presumed because most tumors in the testicles are cancerous. If the doctor says maybe it is an infection, prescribes antibiotics, and says to come back in 2-3 weeks, but does not order an ultrasound, be sure to ask why not. Testicular cancer is missed by the doctor the first time around almost 30% of the time. Since TC is so rare, they figure it must be something else. In this scenario, it is important that you remember to follow up or ask to be seen by a urologist!
The only sure way to know whether cancer is present is for a pathologist to examine a sample of tissue under a microscope. To obtain the tissue, the affected testicle is removed through the groin. This operation is called inguinal orchiectomy. The surgeon does not cut through the scrotum and does not remove just a part of the testicle because, if the problem is cancer, cutting through the outer layer of the testicle might cause a local spread of the disease.
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