Signs and Symptoms
One of the first signs of testicular cancer is often a lump or swelling in the testes. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends against routine screening for testicular cancer in asymptomatic adolescent and adults, which means that men should not perform routine testicular self-exams. This practice was encouraged in the past, but current scientific evidence suggests that screening for testicular cancer does not lead to decreased morbidity and mortality. However, the American Cancer Society suggests that some men should examine their testicles monthly, especially if they have a family history of cancer.
Symptoms may also include one or more of the following:
- a lump in one testis which may or may not be painful
- sharp pain or a dull ache in the lower abdomen or scrotum
- a feeling often described as "heaviness" in the scrotum
- breast enlargement (gynecomastia) from hormonal effects of β-hCG
- low back pain (lumbago) tumor spread to the lymph nodes along the back
It is not very common for testicular cancer to spread to other organs, apart from the lungs. However, if it has, the following symptoms may be present:
- shortness of breath (dyspnea), cough or coughing up blood (hemoptysis) from metastatic spread to the lungs
- a lump in the neck due to metastases to the lymph nodes
Read more about this topic: Testicular Cancer
Famous quotes containing the words signs and, signs and/or symptoms:
“Time has an undertaking establishment on every block and drives his coffin nails faster than the steam riveters rivet or the stenographers type or the tickers tick out fours and eights and dollar signs and ciphers.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“Cows wandered through the streets.... Vegetables grew chiefly in cans, and stream-beds and cañons glittered with these omnipresent signs of civilization.”
—Administration in the State of Colo, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“A certain kind of rich man afflicted with the symptoms of moral dandyism sooner or later comes to the conclusion that it isn’t enough merely to make money. He feels obliged to hold views, to espouse causes and elect Presidents, to explain to a trembling world how and why the world went wrong. The spectacle is nearly always comic.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)