Talk:Testicular cancer

Reversion

I've reverted this change, because it came from an anon with no other edits, and had no resources to back it up. However, it might be legitimate. It certainly doesn't look commercial, or like vandalism. Does anybody know about this? --Arcadian 13:59, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for your response. I don't want to discourage you from contributing to Wikipedia, but we do have a policy here called Wikipedia:No original research. But if you can find other sources for your hypothesis, it may turn out to be a useful addition to Wikipedia. If you've got any questions, or if there's any way I can be of help, just ask on my talk page. --Arcadian 17:57, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

You did the right thing. I'm afraid that these undocumented arguments of the change are a complete nonsense, and shouldn't be in the wikipedia. Not only germ cell tumors are from unkown origin to date, with the exception of some weak links to some chemicals, but if semen where the trigger then, in example, a lot of women will suffer testicular cancer as well, that certainly is not the case.

This has been discussed at great length in the scientific literature. One of the strongest arguments against this hypothesis is that there is little or no increase in testicular cancer in patients with vasectomies (even "little vs. no" is controversial). Please sign your comments. Novangelis 15:14, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

This argument is spurious -- it's not the blood, but the pressure that does the damage. The same volume of blood in the abdomen would cause some discomfort until it is resorbed. Novangelis 15:14, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

I did some clean up. The most controversial thing I've done is remove Tim Stollery from the list of famous survivors for two reasons:

1. I hate trying to define fame, but I didn't think he hit the threshold, and
2. although he is in remission, I don't think he has been cancer free long enough to qualifiy him as a survivor.

Novangelis 17:34, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

Unexplained incidence increase

From article:

Worldwide incidence has doubled since the 1960s, with the highest rates of prevalence in Scandinavia, Germany, and New Zealand. Testicular cancer is uncommon in Asia and Africa.

There does not seem to be a good explanation for this. Many articles say that birth cohort has a major influence. Another , if I read it correctly, find a slight correlation between TC and BMI, and TC and height. And why could incidence possibly be decreasing in Denmark  ?

I would like to improve the prevalence and distribution section of the article. Are there any theories I missed out? Similarly, have some things like diet or pesticide ingestion been shown to have no influence on testicular cancer at all?

-- Stereo ^(talk) 09:45, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

References

Alternative therapies

(This section was removed because it was unreferenced and remained so for three months. --Captaindan 04:46, 30 January 2007 (UTC))

There are alternative therapies favored by some to help fight testicular cancer. Studies have found that epigallocatechin gallate, found in green tea, has beneficial effects. It can bind to a protein on a tumor cell and slow its growth. Other active ingredients, quercetin and gallic acid, have also shown effectiveness, as well as the aqueous solutions of ardisia and yerba mate teas, as chemopreventative agents.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=15450404

The diallyl sulfide component in garlic may be an effective inhibitor in the development of carcinogenic tumors, according to a number of studies which showed some preventative effect.

http://www.krysalis.net/cancer2.htm

Finally the maitake mushroom appears to both inhibit the growth of tumors as well as stimulate immunity. The particular active ingredient is a beta-glucan called D-fraction, which stimulates immune cells. In some cases extracts need to be injected, but the mushroom is effective orally and can be bought as a supplement. It's also been posited that the maitake might make chemotherapeutic drugs more effective, which means lower does of chemotherapy can be used.

Blood in semen?

This is an odd symptom to list. I've never heard of it as a TC symptom, and so I decided to look around online and they're never actually connected. It's a frequent worry apparently, since that's a scary symptom to have, but from my reading it's more indicative of a urinary tract infection, and really no more serious than a bloody nose. Consider this article from the Mayo Clinic What causes blood in semen? It's not listed as a symptom here, or here, and here it's listed as NOT a symptom. I'm going to take the symptom out, and if anyone wants to put it back in, I'd like to see a cite where this is a concrete symptom of TC. --Boradis 23:41, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the cite on the symptom, I've corrected the way it was placed and it works now. There seems to be some disagreement about this issue between the US and the UK. I'm more and more of the opinion that Wikipedia is the absolute LAST place to go to learn about medical issues. --Boradis 23:27, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

And I say the above because a page like this really needs a fully qualified and responsible MD reviewing and maintaining it. Us average Web shmoes aren't qualified to weigh these issues and make judgment calls about which symptoms are noteworthy or not. --Boradis 23:30, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

I never knew that TC is more common in younger men than older men. Wonder why. This has to be one of the the only cancers like this.

We have already discussed this. Please find a citation, and please sign your comments. —Captaindan 17:59, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

CLEANUP: Germ cell tumors

Some of the text on this page concerning germ cell tumors probably should be moved to that page. The text here is a little like blind men describe the elephant: only part of the story. --Una Smith 02:22, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Will do. I have cleaned up germ cell tumor (the other page) and below are some stray references from there that may be useful for this article. --Una Smith 18:10, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

• Crawford ED, Eisenberger MA, McLeod DG et al: Testicular Cancer
• Catalona WJ, Bigg SW: Nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy: evaluation of results after 250 patients, J Urol 143:538-544, 1990.
• Donohue JP, Thornhill JA, Foster RS et al: The role of retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy in clinical stage B testis cancer: the Indiana University experience (1965 to 1989), J Urol 153:85-89, 1995.

Staging

The section on staging needs a rewrite. Staging is not done by a pathologist; the pathologist sees only the in situ tumor, via a specimen. The pathology specimen might reveal evidence of infiltration into other tissues, but reveals nothing about regional lymph nodes nor distant mestastases. Staging is a team effort, involving pathologist, radiologist, surgeon(s), and oncologist. I recommend: leave all detailed explanations of staging to pages describing cancer staging. --Una Smith 16:30, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

Donald H. Bensen

Is this person actually famous? Also, the level of detail about his treatment and who he credits for support seems off-topic. --Intx13 17:07, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

Causes

Any notes on particular causes of this cancer? Have their been any particular risk factors such as, tight underwear, etc ? Rfwoolf (talk)

Yes, there are. I'll add a risk factors section as soon as I gather my sources. Novangelis (talk) 18:16, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

I'll look into this. I need to re-review the association with vasectomy which is related to the discussion of displaced seminal fluid. I need to look at the data before making a statement regarding vasectomy. I added some material, but couldn't find the paper I was looking for.Novangelis (talk) 05:24, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

According to Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, the causes are cryptorchism and isochromosome of the short arm of chromosome 12 are the main associations; excess copy number of 12p occurs in nearly all germ cell tumors. Several years ago, people were saying that excess testosterone, as in testosterone supplements, can increase the incidence of testicular cancer, but I don't know if they ever found good evidence. You might see a reference to it on the package insert of testosterone supplements. Nbauman (talk) 05:44, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

I read the Harrison's article. They had more risk factors in previous editions, but some recent articles have shaken up the traditional associations. The excess 12p is a rearrangement found in the tumor cells, but is not a risk factor. Determining the key genes in the rearrangement will provide a better understanding of the molecular pathogenesis. That's another aspect. Novangelis (talk) 06:36, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

I do not have a reference but I understand that dairy in the diet is a risk factor. Ibjle (talk) 00:34, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Harvey Pekar

I pulled his inclusion from the list of notable survivors as he had lymphoma, as discussed in Our Cancer Year. Lymphoma can affect the testes, but is a different entity. I suggest documentation if he did, in fact, have testicular cancer, not just involvement. Novangelis (talk) 22:23, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Figures do not add

Article says 1 in 250 men develop testicular cancer. There were 138 million men in the 2000 census. That means roughly 552,000 men get it in their life. Roughly an American life is 74 years, so there should be no more than 7459 diagnosis/year, not 8,000 to 9,000 as the article states.

71.198.177.64 (talk) 11:28, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

It is roughly 1 in 250, as the article states. If it were 1 in 200, there would be over 9,000 cases. The conservative round number is the one generally used. Your observation is well founded. I plan to review the literature a bit to see if the number has changed. It was <9000 in 2004, but the 2000 numbers will align with the census. For now, I don't recommend an uncited change (use a number from the relevant literature). This is a matter of being imprecise, not inaccurate and 1 in 250 often is better understood than 0.4%. Using 1 in 225 (0.45%) would be more accurate, but overly precise. Given the incidence has increased in recent years, the numbers should be checked. Thank you for taking a good look at the article and looking for ways to improve it.Novangelis (talk) 12:37, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

I finally got around to checking the numbers and you were right. I cited ACS numbers for 2003 and 2007, being the first and last to use the 2000 census data. Although the data does not affect raw number of cases, it may impact population derived statistics if used later in the article. I've broadened the range around my two timepoints, 7,600 (2003) and 7,920 (2007). I'd suggest that anyone using the ACS Cancer Facts and Figures not go back past 2003, especially if using population dependent numbers.Novangelis (talk) 20:00, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Famous survivors

This section is (mostly unsourced) trivia that adds nothing to understanding the topic of testicular cancer. I don't think it's really all that appropriate in an encyclpedia article, the only use it has is as semi-interesting factoids and even then only if you've heard of any of the people listed. I definitely think it should be removed or at the very least trimmed. Thoughts? -- Naerii 20:44, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

As a survivors section must meet criteria for WP:BLP, WP:NOTABILITY, and WP:TRIVIA, I plan to delete entries that do not meet several criteria.

• They must be famous enough to merit an article.
• Entries must be documented.
• They must be "active" survivors. If they are not doing anything, then it becomes trivia. The section might better be thought of as "Famous survivors promoting awareness" or something like that.

Please note, these are my arbitrary criteria. I do plan to pare aggressively, using these criteria, in the absence of input. I welcome discussion prior to my action and I will try to keep entries by looking for the documentation. If I cannot find it readily, I will treat it as lack of notability. Novangelis (talk) 18:48, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

I think that your guidelines are good. WhatamIdoing (talk) 01:14, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

I've done it. Most entries were deleted for lack of activism and lack of documentation. I changed it to paragraph format to bring it towards proper style. The last paragraph about checkemlads.com needs documentation or it will have to go as well. The articles on the individuals are mostly unreferenced. Novangelis (talk) 16:13, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

After five months, no sourced additions have added anything to understanding the topic. As the Lance Armstrong Foundation is about all cancers, not just testicular, there seems to be no basis for retaining the section.Novangelis (talk) 13:49, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

The removal of Lance Armstrong is crazy - his story is one of incredible hope to testicular cancer survivors, friends, relatives and even the general public. The removal of the list itself is also completely ponderous to me, as a testicular cancer survivor who now has been diagnosed it in the remaining testicle which will be coming out next week. Perhaps some entries might be culled, but you seem to miss the point of providing hope to survivors. Perhaps we should just be euthanised at diagnosis... TheBustopher (talk) 13:16, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Melodramatics do not override policy.Novangelis (talk) 15:11, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

I still can't work out why inclusion of Lance Armstrong's case of testicular cancer and treatment DOES violate WP policy TheBustopher (talk) 16:18, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

It is trivia. It does not shed any light on what testicular cancer is. No one has written anything edifying using appropriate sources. All it does is turn into an unsourced WP:BLP violation on a massive scale.Novangelis (talk) 16:34, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

You obviously haven't read Lance Armstrong's "It's not About the Bike". I still can't see how it can be a violation of Biographies of Living Persons policy to mention things Lance himself has published in a widely distributed book. TheBustopher (talk) 07:01, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

External links

Wikipedia's external links policy and the specific guidelines for medicine-related articles do not permit the inclusion of external links to non-encyclopedic material, particularly including internet chat boards and e-mail discussion groups. Because I realize that most normal editors haven't spent much time with these policies, please let me provide specific information from the guidelines:

• This page, which applies to all articles in the entire encyclopedia, says that links "to social networking sites (such as MySpace or Fan sites), discussion forums/groups (such as Yahoo! Groups), USENET newsgroups or e-mail lists" are to be avoided.
• This page deprecates ""helpful" external links, such as forums, self-help groups and local charities."
• This medical-specific page reinforces the pan-Wiki rules, with a note that "All links must meet Wikipedia's external links guidelines, which in particular exclude discussion forums."

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, and while it may occasionally be useful to patients or their families, it is not an advertising opportunity for support groups. Please do not re-insert links that do not conform to the standard rules. Any editor, BTW, is welcome to read all of the rules and perform an "audit" in the remaining links. Thanks, WhatamIdoing (talk) 21:44, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

I have added a link to tc-cancer.com. Whilst there is a large forum there, the site boasts accurate and up to date information including a research library. As a testicular cancer patient myself, I can testify that this is the single most valuable TC resource on the internet. I would object greatly to removal of this link without justification. Ibjle (talk) 00:32, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

In instances like that, it's often best to link to an 'information' or 'FAQ' page, instead of the main page or a forum page. Editors that do a lot of anti-spam work at Wikipedia are usually going to give a site about three seconds' attention. So you want the page you link to be as obviously informative and non-banned as possible. WhatamIdoing (talk) 01:14, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

John Hartson

According to the BBC a former welsh international soccer player has just been diagnosed with the cancer.

Hartson is only 34 and was showing traditional the symptoms associated with the disease. However in his case it has metastasized and spread to the brain.

News article —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.42.254.87 (talk) 13:46, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Prognosis

This section does not contain prognosis for any of the Stages, so I'm unclear as to the heading of the section.Corymichael780 (talk) 16:48, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

March 2011

There have been several edits to this page and (not surprisingly) Quarter (United States coin) that appear to be original research linking testicular cancer to carrying quarters around in your pockets. "Original research" includes scientific studies that are not supported or recognized by sources outside of the organization conducting the study. The external links that were put here were simply research materials that do not directly support the content, and are not valid as either citations or external links as such. If there are reliable sources to back these entries with inline citations, they should stay. Without them, they cannot. Cheers :> Doc talk 06:29, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Famous survivors

I took a look at this list, and was struck by one overwhelming observation: the massive dominance of professional road race cyclists. That is particularly striking as it's not a sport that has a lot of pros, and yet there are 4 on the list. That immediately suggests that there might be a link. It could be the saddles -- we know that there is a link between narrow bike saddles and male reproductive system harm -- but certainly what sprung to my mind was the issue of performance enhancing drugs; I think of road cycling as the serious sport in which popular wisdom has it that doping is most common. And then, most of the other people on the list are also sportsmen, and also in sports that have a checkered history when it comes to steroid usage. It seems to make sense, too: use of artificial hormones mimicking those naturally produced in the testes could reasonably be linked to problems in cell growth there.

I also noticed that the list of famous survivors was discussed on the talk page back in 2008, so out of interest I checked the history. The old list was overlong and poorly formatted but showed no such bias.

Therefore, I believe that my hasty conclusion linking testicular cancer to cycling was mistaken. The real link, if any, is probably to Lance Armstrong -- by far the most famous road cyclist of recent years, and well known as a testicular cancer survivor and head of his LiveStrong foundation speaking out on such issues. I think that the leadership of such a star in the sport might bring other cyclists diagnosed with testicular cancer into the limelight; and while it's not such a mass sport, there are enough that 4 on the list could be within the same statistical 0.4% as the population at large.

I think this is a major issue that needs to be addressed in the article. The erroneous conclusion that I reached makes sense based on the information provided, and I would expect other people to reach it independently. The result is a smear on the reputation of these people, and of any sportsperson who is diagnosed with testicular cancer. I think that the presence of the list does add to the article, but I would suggest dropping some of the cyclists and bringing back some people from areas outside sports. That would help show that testicular cancer is common, that it should carry no stigma, and that people can be treated and return to an active and successful life in any field. 201.230.79.114 (talk) 04:08, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

Classification

I'm not sure how this section tallies with what is written on Cancer Research UK's website http://cancerhelp.cancerresearchuk.org/type/testicular-cancer/about/types-of-testicular-cancer

Wiki:

"More than 95% of testicular cancers are germ cell tumors. Most of the remaining 5% are sex cord-gonadal stromal tumours derived from Leydig cells or Sertoli cells."

CRUK:

There are two main types of testicular cancer - Seminomas & Non seminomas. They develop from germ cells in the testes. Between 40 and 45 out of every 100 testicular cancers (40 to 45%) are pure seminomas. Most of the rest are mixtures of these other types of non seminoma testicular cancers.

Any thoughts on how to clarify? HenryScow (talk) 12:57, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

Recent edits

As part of Cancer Research UK's involvement with Wikipedia, we're looking into improving the info on this page, particularly for a non-medical audience. Any issues/feedback, pop a comment below or on my talk page HenryScow (talk) 13:04, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

Only have one

I lost one of my testicles when I was a child due to it ascending into my body and not being salvagable (I had to have it removed). I find it incredibly annoying that, no matter how heard I search, I cannot find any information on testicular cancer when you only have one testicle, e.g. how am I supposed to compare the size of my testicle against the other when it has long been incinerated! I would appreciate it if consideration could be given into having a section on here dealing with this issue. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.109.19.51 (talk) 19:11, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

Is there any way to prevent it?

Is there any way to prevent it? Just that (I think is very important this issue).--179.37.144.76 (talk) 03:37, 15 March 2017 (UTC)

Wikipedia does not give medical advice.

There is some factual information in the article, about screening and self-checking (with references to reliable sources). 86.20.193.222 (talk) 03:45, 15 March 2017 (UTC)

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Assertions on long-term seminoma recurrence

"Since seminoma can recur decades after the primary tumor is removed, patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy should remain vigilant and not assume they are cured 5 years after treatment.[citation needed]" -- I'd say this should be removed, as there's no citation and it's sort of needlessly anxiety-inducing. Most cancer could, theoretically, recur decades later; without a citation backing this up I'm not sure it belongs. Trickycrayon (talk) 14:00, 14 July 2021 (UTC)

Can we do something about that disgusting photo?

Do we really need to have that greeting people who are likely coming here to learn about the cancer they've just been diagnosed with?

It's about as bad as a shock site . 2602:306:BC74:6240:1838:AA5F:1B84:12EB (talk) 06:47, 5 December 2022 (UTC)

History

May information be added describing when Testicular cancer was first diagnosed? (Month, year and country, if possible.) Centauri4 (talk) 18:39, 14 December 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: The Impact of Cancer

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 8 January 2024 and 4 May 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Dandelions-love-to-fly (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Dandelions-love-to-fly (talk) 21:09, 15 March 2024 (UTC)