Posts Tagged ‘testicular cancer’

Testicular Cancer Other Resources

Some other interesting sites of reading regarding testicular cancer

http://www.tc-cancer.com/

http://www.checkemlads.com/

http://www.timstollery.com/

http://www.livestrong.org

http://www.orchid-cancer.org.uk

http://www.onelumportwo.org.uk/

http://www.balls2cancer.co.uk/

http://www.everyman-campaign.org/

feel free to send me a link to your site

About This Site

I will be updating this site very soon, all the scientific information on this site is from the National Cancer Institute.

The reason I have started this site is because when I was first told I had testicular cancer the first thing I did when I got home was look it up on the net. The information was mainly geared to US patients and the thought and fear of going through a RPLND as well as loosing my testicle was too much for me and pushed me over the edge, by the time of my first follow up appointment the shock of what had recently happed and the cancer worry was really playing with my mind.

It was a massive relief to hear that in Europe they don’t tend to do a RPLND. It was explained that because the US is so big people can be hours away from there hospitals and because they have to pay for treatment they simple don’t come back for what ever reason so to maximise there chances of survival a RPLND is performed. Lucky in Europe you are never more than a hour or so away from a hospital and even a specialist cancer hospital might not be much further.

Testicular Cancer Prognosis

For nonseminoma, all of the following must be true:

• The tumor is found only in the testicle or in the retroperitoneum (area outside or behind the abdominal wall); and
• The tumor has not spread to organs other than the lungs; and
• The levels of all the tumor markers are slightly above normal.

For seminoma, all of the following must be true:

• The tumor has not spread to organs other than the lungs; and
• The level of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is normal. Beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) may be at any level.

Intermediate Prognosis

For nonseminoma, all of the following must be true:

• The tumor is found in one testicle only or in the retroperitoneum (area outside or behind the abdominal wall); and
• The tumor has not spread to organs other than the lungs; and
• The level of any one of the tumor markers is more than slightly above normal.

For seminoma, all of the following must be true:

• The tumor has spread to organs other than the lungs; and
• The level of AFP is normal. β-hCG and LDH may be at any level.

Poor Prognosis

For nonseminoma, at least one of the following must be true:

• The tumor is in the center of the chest between the lungs; or
• The tumor has spread to organs other than the lungs; or
• The level of any one of the tumor markers is high.

There is no poor prognosis grouping for seminoma testicular tumors.