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Your GP will examine your testicles and ask you about any symptoms you have noticed.
S/he may then send you to see a specialist doctor (a urologist) at a local hospital. There are cancer referral guidelines to help GPs decide who may need to see a specialist, and how quickly.
At hospital you are likely to have these tests:
Ultrasound scan
This test uses sound waves to build a picture of the inside of the body. You lie on your back while a device like a microphone is passed over the skin of your scrotum. The sound waves make pictures of the testicles on a computer screen.
Chest X-ray
This test is usually performed to make sure that there is no spread of cancer to the lungs.
Computerised tomography (CT or CAT scan)
This is a type of x-ray that creates pictures of the inside of the body. You lie on a couch while it passes through a large hollow ring. Doctors will use the scan to look at your chest, abdomen and pelvis. They will be able to see whether the cancer has spread. This test is usually done once you have had a diagnosis of testicular cancer and after you have had surgery to remove your testicle.
Blood tests
Some testicular cancers release chemicals into the bloodstream. Doctors call these chemicals tumour markers. A blood test can show whether you have these chemicals in your body.
Removal of the testicle
The only sure way to find out whether you have this cancer is to remove your testicle and look at it under a microscope. If the results of your earlier tests suggest you have cancer, your doctor is very likely to recommend this operation. It is called an orchidectomy – and it will also form the first stage of your treatment (See treatment options).
You may wonder why your doctor doesn’t just take a sample of tissue to test (a biopsy). It is because, with testicular cancer, there is a risk that this could make the cancer spread. Taking out the whole testicle is safer – and you can manage perfectly well with just one.
For more information about some of the above tests, go to our cancer tests section.
