What are the symptoms?
The most common symptom is a lump or a swelling in a testicle. Lumps can be as small as a pea. Swellings can feel like irregular thickening on a testicle. Symptoms are often painless. Some may cause discomfort.
Other symptoms, when they occur, may include
- ache or pain in the back, groin, lower abdomen, or scrotum
- a change from the usual size or feel of the testicle
- loss of sex drive
- a sensation of heaviness in the scrotum or bloating in the lower abdomen
- tenderness, swelling, or lumps in the area around the nipples
Less serious conditions may also cause these symptoms. But you should report any symptoms to your clinician as soon as possible. Don't let fear prevent you from seeking care. Only a health care provider can diagnose or rule out cancer. And the sooner cancer is diagnosed and treated, the less likely it is to spread to other parts of your body.
How is it diagnosed?
Clinicians examine the testes with their hands and use other tests to either diagnose or rule out cancer. The tests may include
- Blood tests measure certain proteins and enzymes that are put out by cancerous tumors.
- Ultrasound scans use sound waves, instead of x-rays, to produce an image of internal tissues. They can locate and determine the size of a mass in the testicle. Ultrasound is a very safe procedure. An ultrasound is also called a sonogram.
- Surgery is the only way to find out for sure if there is cancer. But it is only performed after other tests show cancer may be present and a doctor is confident that there is cancer. Usually, the entire testicle is removed and tested. Surgical removal of a testicle is called orchidectomy. Rarely, only a biopsy — removal of a small piece of the testicle for testing — is performed. Biopsy is usually only done if a man only has one testicle. Otherwise doctors avoid biopsy because it may spread the cancer.
|
