Health Topic

Testicular Cancer

Testicular cancer mainly affects young men between the ages of 20 and 39. Symptoms include pain, swelling, or lumps in your testicles or groin area.

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Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.

About Testicular Cancer

Testicular cancer is a cancer that develops in the tissues of one or both testicles. The testicles, or testes, are part of the male reproductive system. They make male hormones and sperm. They are two egg-shaped glands inside the scrotum, a sac of loose skin that lies below the penis. You can get cancer in one or both testicles.

Testicular cancer is very rare. You can get it at any age, but it is most common in men between the ages of 20 and 39. It is also more common in those who:

  • Have had abnormal testicle development
  • Have had an undescended testicle, a condition in which one or both testicles fail to move into the scrotum before birth
  • Have had testicle cancer before
  • Have a family history of the cancer
  • Are White

The symptoms of testicular cancer may include:

  • A painless lump or swelling in either testicle
  • A change in how the testicle feels
  • A dull ache in the lower abdomen (belly) or the groin (the area where the thigh meets the abdomen)
  • A sudden build-up of fluid in the scrotum
  • Pain or discomfort in a testicle or in the scrotum

To find out if you have testicular cancer, your health care provider may use:

  • A physical exam.
  • Blood tests.
  • An ultrasound of the testicles.
  • An inguinal orchiectomy, which is a procedure to remove the entire testicle. A tissue sample from the testicle is viewed under a microscope to check for cancer cells.

Testicular cancer can usually be cured.The treatment options include:

  • Surgery (if the testicle has not already been removed during diagnosis).
  • Radiation therapy.
  • Chemotherapy.
  • High-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplant.
  • Surveillance, which might be done after surgery. It means that your provider will closely follow your condition with regular exams and tests. You won't get any further treatment unless there are changes in your test results.

Some of the treatments may also cause infertility. If you may want to have children later on, you should consider sperm banking before treatment.

After you have finished your treatment, you will need regular follow-up testing to make sure that the cancer has not come back. If you have had cancer in one testicle, you have a higher risk of getting cancer in the other testicle. So it's important to check the other testicle regularly and let your provider know if you notice any changes or unusual symptoms.

It sits within Cancers, Endocrine System, Men and Male Reproductive System.

The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Cancer Institute.

When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.

Research on Testicular Cancer

416 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.

What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.

Research currently under way

Research already completed

Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.

Where to read more

Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.

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Diagnosis and Tests

Treatments and Therapies

Prevention and Risk Factors

Living With

Related Issues

Statistics and Research

Clinical Trials

Medical subject headings

Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Testicular Neoplasms. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.

This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Testicular Cancer, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.