Testicular Cancer: Types of Tumors
Testicular cancer is a one-two punch below the belt, however luckily it's a highly treatable and curable disease, often with a favorable prognosis when not metastatic.
Check out this informative video on
testicular self-examination.
As we discussed in the previous post, the testicles are made up of different kinds of cells, each having the potential to develop into different kinds of testicular cancer, so knowing which cells have become cancerous is important because treatments and prognoses differ.
The 3 main types of testicular cancer tumors are germ cell tumors, stromal tumors, and secondary tumors.
Germ Cell Tumors
According to the American Cancer Association, germ cell tumors are the most common type of testicular tumor, with 9 out of 10 cases of testicular cancer starting in the germ cells. "Germ" in this case means "seed", and refers to the cells that make sperm.
There are 2 main types of germ cell tumors. The first type of germ cell tumor is seminoma, tumors that start in the cells of the testicles that make sperm, tending to occur in men between ages 30 and 50. There are several subtypes of seminomas.
The second type of germ cell tumor is nonseminoma. These are testicular tumors often found in younger men between the late teens and early 40's. There are 4 main subtypes of nonseminomas, and usually tumors are mixed, having at least 2 different subtypes of nonseminoma. Treatment for all 4 subtypes is the same; therefore the particular type of nonseminoma is not too important. Nonseminomas grow and spread more quickly than seminomas do.
Carcinoma in Situ
Carcinoma in situ, or CIS, is a type of cancer that may or may not develop into testicular germ cell cancer. It can take as long as 5 years for this cancer to progress to an invasive form of germ cell cancer. This type of cancer is difficult to diagnose since it doesn't have any noticeable symptoms. Also, because of the uncertain nature of this cancer, doctors do not have an agreed method of treatment beyond waiting to see if the CIS will develop into the more invasive germ cell cancer.
Stromal Tumors
These are tumors that grow in the hormone-making cells and in the supportive tissues (stromal tissues) of the testicles. These tumors are often benign, and usually do not spread beyond the testicle. Often they can be removed from the testicle; however some stromal cell tumors can metastasize, spreading cancer to other parts of the body.
Metastatic stromal cell tumors do not respond well to chemotherapy or radiation treatments and are therefore more serious.