Frosty Testicular cancer may have no obvious symptoms in the early stages. As the disease progresses, symptoms such as painless lumps in the testicles, swelling in the scrotum, dull pain in the lower abdomen, and abnormal testicular enlargement or hardening may occur as the disease progresses. The main symptoms of testicular cancer include testicular mass, scrotal discomfort, low back pain, gynecomastia, weight loss, etc.
1. Testicular mass
The first symptom of about 90% of patients is a hard mass in the testicle, mostly located at the lower pole or lateral edge of the testicle. It is usually painless when touched and the boundary with the epididymis is unclear. It may be related to diseases such as testicular germ cell tumors and testicular Leydig cell tumors, which are often accompanied by increase in testicular volume or morphological changes. Alpha-fetoprotein detection and ultrasound examination are commonly used in clinical diagnosis. Treatment requires radical orchiectomy combined with radiotherapy and chemotherapy according to the pathological type.
2. Scrotal discomfort
Patients may experience heaviness or dull pain in the scrotum, which is aggravated after standing or doing physical activity and relieved when lying down. This symptom is common in testicular hydrocele combined with tumors or varicocele combined with tumors. Physical examination will reveal that the skin temperature of the affected side of the scrotum is elevated, and the light transmittance test may be positive. A differential diagnosis of scrotal MRI and orchitis is required.
3. Low back pain
When tumors metastasize to retroperitoneal lymph nodes, they can compress the nerve plexus and cause persistent low back pain. The pain is usually located at the costovertebral angle and radiates to the groin. It is more common in non-seminoma such as choriocarcinoma and is often accompanied by abdominal pain and gastrointestinal symptoms. Diagnosis requires enhanced CT scan of the abdomen, and retroperitoneal lymph node dissection combined with bleomycin and other chemotherapy regimens are used for treatment.
4. Gynecomastia
Some testicular tumors that secrete human chorionic gonadotropin can cause elevated estrogen levels, manifesting as breast tenderness and areola pigmentation. Choriocarcinoma or mixed germ cell tumors are more common in young patients, and laboratory tests show a significant increase in β-HCG. Treatment requires radical resection of the primary tumor combined with EP chemotherapy. Breast symptoms are often relieved after chemotherapy.
5. Weight loss
Patients in the advanced stage may experience weight loss without obvious inducement, and the weight loss may exceed 10% of the original weight within half a year. It is common in embryonal carcinoma that has metastasized far away, and is often accompanied by symptoms such as loss of appetite and low fever. Whole-body PET-CT can detect metastases, and TIP high-dose chemotherapy regimen combined with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is required.
If you experience the above symptoms, you should promptly seek medical advice from a urology department and make a clear diagnosis through tumor marker detection, imaging examinations and pathological biopsy. The cure rate for early-stage testicular cancer is relatively high, and the treatment plan needs to be individually formulated based on the pathological type and clinical stage.
