Testicular Cancer Treatment Options - OmniMedicalSearch.com

Testicular cancer treatment varies from patient to patient, according to several factors: (1) the tumor type, (2) the cancer stage, and (3) the cancer extant.

The treatment options for testicular cancer are: surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy.

The surgical removal of the testicle is called orchiectomy. In most cases, the surgical removal of the testicle together with the surrounding lymph nodes is the first treatment approach for seminomas and non-seminomas patients.

Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment (affects cells throughout the entire body) that uses drugs either to stop the abnormal growth and dividing process of the cancerous cells, or to kill them. The most common drugs used to treat testicular cancer are: cisplatin, bleomycin, and etoposide. These drugs are usually administrated together, in a therapy known as BEP chemotherapy. The drugs are usually given intravenously, during a treatment plan that involves between two and four sessions. The treatment plan is adjusted to the patient’s needs, where the chemotherapy either is administered on a longer course where treatment periods are followed by recovery periods, or is given weekly.

Chemotherapy has proven to be effective in patients with seminoma and non-seminoma. Chemotherapy is usually administrated after surgery to prevent cancer relapse or to treat the remaining cancer or the cancer that has spread, but in some cases is prior to surgery with the purpose of reducing the tumor to a reasonable size that can be surgically removed.

A new approach in treating testicular cancer is the high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplant. This new treatment is still being tested in clinical trials. High-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplant is a new method where the patient receives a high-dose of chemotherapy (usually when the standard treatment plan does not work) and has his blood-forming cells replaced after the treatment is completed. High-doses of cancer-killing drugs usually destroy the blood-forming cell. Before receiving chemotherapy, stem

cells (undifferentiated cells whose daughter cells may differentiate into other cell types) are removed from the patient or donor blood or bone marrow, and are frozen and stored. After the high-dose chemotherapy treatment is completed, the stem cells are administered through an infusion to the patient. This way, the healthy blood cells can be restored.

Unfortunately, chemotherapy does not only destroy the cancerous cells, but also the healthy cells within the entire body. That's the reason why chemotherapy causes a number of side effects, such as:

This is a cancer treatment which uses high-energy rays or particles to destroy cancerous cells. This treatment is commonly used in patients that suffer from seminomas, and is administrated after surgery to prevent the cancer relapse, or to treat the remaining cancerous cells that spread to the lymph glands. It is a highly effective in treating seminomas.

Radiotherapy is administrated as an outpatient treatment for two to four weeks. The beam dosage depends on the cancer stage.

Sources:
SEER’s Training Web Site, Testicular cancer, October 2005
Medline Plus, Testicular cancer, April 2007
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Testicular Cancer, February 2006
Lab Tests Online, Testicular Cancer, December 2006
National Cancer Institute, Testicular cancer: Treatment, January 2006
Familydoctor.org, Testicular cancer: What to look for, April 2003
American Cancer Society, Detailed guide: Testicular cancer, July 2006

Conditions & Diseases: Cancer

Testicular Cancer

Treatment Options