Early Detection Critical for Testicular Cancer in Young Men

April is Testicular Cancer Awareness Month, according to the Testicular Cancer Awareness Foundation, and because testicular cancer is the most common type of cancer in men aged between 15 and 44 years old, it is important to help raise awareness for ways to address this disease.

It is important to note that early detection of testicular cancer is key, and with early detection, patients often have the opportunity to eliminate the need for additional surgeries, chemotherapy or radiation. The Testicular Cancer Awareness Foundation website also notes that early detection impacts financial toxicity and can, in turn, ease both financial and emotional burden on patients faced with this disease.

“Testicular cancer is scary. Cancer is scary. Cancer is a charged term. However, this is one that's highly curable,” Dr. Benjamin Garmezy emphasized in an interview with CURE.

In the interview, he discussed the importance of early intervention for the best possible outcomes in patients with this disease.

Garmezy is a medical oncologist and the assistant director of Genitourinary (FU) Research at Sarah Cannon Research Institute, as well as the co-chair of the GU Research Executive Committee at SCRI Oncology, in Nashville, Tennessee.

Transcript:

Testicular cancer is scary. Cancer is scary. Cancer is a charged term. However, this is one that's highly curable. We say every patient diagnosed with this disease has a chance of cure, and a highly likely chance of cure. Over 90% of these men are going to get cured. What I tell my patients is this is hopefully just going to be a bad dream in your life's rearview mirror, and we're going to get you through it. But even if that frontline chemo doesn't work, there are other options. We can do transplant. We can do higher doses of chemotherapy and still cure patients with those salvage options.

Sarah Cannon Research Institute — where I work — has a whole host of clinical trials available for patients with novel cellular therapies, where we're genetically engineering white blood cells to go into a patient and try to directly attack the tumor, or we have a molecule that will grab onto your own immune cells and bring them into the tumor, called a T-cell engager. We have all sorts of really cool technology as well that can really help, I think, extend life and perhaps achieve more cures in patients with testicular cancer. So, that's the big picture. Understand that this is scary, but also understand that there's a lot of help out there.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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