NewsAwareness
Testicular Cancer Awareness Month: A Calm, Clear Overview
Each April, Testicular Cancer Awareness Month focuses on a cancer that most often affects younger men and can usually be cured. Here is what NCI says.
A plain-language summary based on public reporting and trusted sources, linked below.
Please note: this page is educational only — it is not medical advice, and it does not speculate about anyone’s health beyond reliable public reporting. For questions about your own health, talk with your healthcare team.
Aimed at the people least likely to be listening
April's campaign targets an audience that rarely thinks about cancer at all. The median age at diagnosis is 33, according to SEER. Most cancers arrive decades later.
That gap is why the month exists. A 25-year-old with a lump does not think "cancer", and nor do the people around him.
The message is genuinely reassuring. NCI states that most testicular cancers can be cured, even when found at an advanced stage. New cases have more than doubled worldwide over 40 years, NCI reports, while deaths dropped sharply as treatment improved.
What the disease is
Testicular cancer usually begins in germ cells, the cells that make sperm. NCI divides germ cell tumors into two main groups: seminomas and nonseminomas. They behave differently and are treated differently, so telling them apart shapes everything that follows.
NCI lists the known risk factors:
- An undescended testicle, known as cryptorchidism.
- A testicle that is not normal, such as a small one that does not work properly.
- Testicular carcinoma in situ, meaning abnormal cells confined to the tissue where they formed.
- Being a White man.
- A personal or family history of testicular cancer.
- Klinefelter syndrome, a condition in which a male is born with an extra X chromosome.
NCI adds the caveat that matters most: it also develops in people with no known risk factors. Men with cryptorchidism, an abnormal testicle or carcinoma in situ have raised risk in one or both testicles and need close follow-up.
Why there is no screening program
This is the part that confuses people, and NCI is unusually direct about it.
There is no standard or routine screening test for testicular cancer. No study has tested whether self-exams, regular doctor exams or any other screening in men without symptoms would lower the risk of dying from it.
NCI's assessment is that routine screening probably would not lower that risk. The reason is the same fact that makes the campaign hopeful: this cancer can usually be cured at any stage, so finding it earlier saves fewer lives than it would in a cancer where late diagnosis is fatal.
Earlier still helps, though, in a different currency. NCI notes that men diagnosed before the cancer has spread may need less chemotherapy and less surgery, and so carry fewer lasting side effects. Our page on cancer screening explains why "detects earlier" and "saves lives" are separate claims.
Most cases are found by men themselves, by chance or during a self-exam, or by a doctor during a routine physical. Our page on testicular self-exam describes what feeling around actually involves.
When to get checked
NCI lists these as reasons to see a doctor. Other conditions cause all of them far more often than cancer does:
- A painless lump or swelling in either testicle.
- A change in how a testicle feels.
- A dull ache in the lower abdomen or groin.
- A sudden build-up of fluid in the scrotum.
- Pain or discomfort in a testicle or the scrotum.
The word to notice is painless. Many men wait for pain before acting, and here pain is often absent. A firm, painless lump is the classic presentation, and not something to watch for months.
What happens after a lump is found
An ultrasound comes first, then blood tests for three tumor markers: alpha-fetoprotein, beta-human chorionic gonadotropin and lactate dehydrogenase. These are substances the tumor releases into the blood. Our page on tumor markers explains how the values are read.
Diagnosis and first treatment are usually the same operation. Surgery removes the testicle through an incision in the groin, an inguinal orchiectomy, and the tissue is examined. Nearby lymph nodes may be removed and checked at the same time.
Marker levels are measured again after surgery. The fall, or failure to fall, helps set the stage. The same markers are then tracked as an early signal of return.
Staging also uses CT, and sometimes MRI of the abdomen. For nonseminoma, removing abdominal lymph nodes can help stop the spread. Seminoma in lymph nodes is usually treated with radiation.
What treatment involves
NCI lists five approaches, used alone or in sequence.
Surgery removes the affected testicle and, when needed, lymph nodes or deposits elsewhere.
Radiation therapy uses high-energy X-rays aimed from a machine outside the body, and is a standard option in seminoma.
Chemotherapy circulates through the bloodstream and reaches cells anywhere. This is what makes advanced testicular cancer so treatable compared with most solid tumors.
Surveillance means no treatment after surgery, with exams and tests on a fixed schedule instead.
High-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplant is used when the disease returns. Stem cells are collected and frozen first, high-dose chemotherapy destroys the marrow along with the cancer, and the stored cells are given back to rebuild blood production.
The conversation that has to happen before treatment starts
NCI is explicit that certain treatments for testicular cancer can cause infertility, and that it may be permanent.
Patients who may want children should consider sperm banking before treatment begins. Not after. Once chemotherapy or radiation has started, the option may be gone.
Given the age at which this cancer arrives, that belongs in the first conversation.
The wider numbers
The American Cancer Society projects about 9,810 new testicular cancers in the United States in 2026 and about 630 deaths, figures SEER republishes on its Stat Facts page. Survival is NCI's own measurement: five-year relative survival was 94.6%, based on people diagnosed between 2016 and 2022.
About 0.4% of men will be diagnosed at some point in life. These are population figures, not a forecast for a person.
What this does not mean
A 94.6% figure is a group average. It cannot promise an outcome to anyone, and it says nothing about the treatment burden a particular person will carry.
No screening test does not mean no attention. It means the evidence supports responding to changes rather than testing everyone routinely.
And a lump is not a diagnosis. Cysts, infections, fluid collections and injuries are all more common. The point of April is simply that the check happens now rather than next year.
Sources
- NCI PDQ, Testicular Cancer Screening (Patient Version) — https://www.cancer.gov/types/testicular/patient/testicular-screening-pdq
- NCI PDQ, Testicular Cancer Screening (Health Professional Version) — https://www.cancer.gov/types/testicular/hp/testicular-screening-pdq
- NCI, Testicular Cancer Symptoms — https://www.cancer.gov/types/testicular/symptoms
- NCI, Testicular Cancer Causes and Risk Factors — https://www.cancer.gov/types/testicular/causes-risk-factors
- NCI, Testicular Cancer Stages — https://www.cancer.gov/types/testicular/stages
- NCI, Testicular Cancer Treatment — https://www.cancer.gov/types/testicular/treatment
- SEER Cancer Stat Facts, Testicular Cancer — https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/testis.html
How this article was prepared
An AI-assisted editorial system helped prepare this page. No named medical reviewer has reviewed it unless one is listed.
The National Cancer Information Foundation publishes Cancer Explained. This page is for learning. It is not medical advice and does not suggest a test or treatment.
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Put the story in context
Prevention, possible warning signs, screening, and diagnosis
This story relates to Testicular cancer. The information below is general: it does not reveal anything else about a public person’s health, and not every point applies to every cancer. Personal advice depends on age, symptoms, family history, exposures, and medical history.
Prevention and risk reduction
Not every cancer can be prevented. Avoiding tobacco, protecting skin from ultraviolet radiation, limiting alcohol, staying active, and receiving recommended HPV or hepatitis B vaccination can lower the risk of certain cancers. A risk factor is not a prediction or a cause in one individual.
Symptoms and possible early signs
Possible signs vary and are often caused by conditions other than cancer. Changes worth discussing include a new lump, unexplained bleeding or weight loss, a persistent cough, lasting bowel or bladder changes, a changing skin spot, or symptoms that persist or worsen. Some early cancers cause no symptoms.
Screening and early detection
Screening looks for certain cancers before symptoms begin. Recommended tests exist only for some cancers and depend on age and risk. Screening can have benefits and harms; it is not the same as evaluating a new symptom, and there is no single routine scan or blood test that reliably screens for every cancer.
How cancer is diagnosed
Diagnosis may involve a history and exam, imaging, laboratory tests, and often a biopsy. Pathology can identify the cancer type and may test biomarkers that guide treatment. Symptoms, screening results, tumor markers, or online stories alone cannot confirm cancer.
Learn about this story’s cancer topic
A public story may encourage questions, but it should not be used to estimate your risk or choose testing. Contact a healthcare professional about a persistent or concerning change. Seek urgent care for severe or rapidly worsening symptoms.