Diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of testicular cancer

Testicular cancer is a disease of young adult men, and it is curable in most cases. Even in advanced disease, cure rates reach 80 % nowadays. This was achieved by consistently performing studies concerning the different stages of disease. The concept of treatment is interdisciplinary. After removal of the affected testis, histology and stage determine further therapy, which can be active surveillance, polychemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, or a combination of these. Curability also has consequences for the long-term follow-up. We speak about long-term survivorship. Besides looking for recurrences, it is also necessary to observe and treat long-term toxicities caused by the different therapeutic procedures. Because testicular cancer is rare with about 4500 cases annually, treatment-especially for advanced disease-should be performed at centers. In addition, it is possible to obtain a second opinion using the Interdisciplinary German Testicular Study Group website.