The five-year survival rate of testicular cancer is 95 percent. And at the Abramson Cancer Center, our world-renowned testicular cancer team designs personalized treatment plans that cure cancer and maximize your quality of life for years to come.
Testicular Cancer Treatment: Why Choose the Abramson Cancer Center?
Testicular cancer is highly curable but can spread quickly. Surgery to remove the affected testicle (orchiectomy) is the standard treatment. Our highly skilled urologists are here to get you this lifesaving treatment quickly.
In addition to expedited treatment, you can expect:
- Team-based care: Curing testicular cancer often requires a combination of treatments. Your treatment plan is informed by our multidisciplinary team of genitourinary (GU) and urologic cancer experts. All our experts — including medical, surgical and radiation oncologists, pathologists, radiologists and advanced practice providers — weigh in on your care. This team approach ensures you receive complete care that considers every possibility.
- Personalized treatment plans: We measure treatment success on more than physical outcomes — quality of life matters, too. Our team creates treatment plans that not only consider test results and the genetic makeup of cancer cells, but your medical history, short- and long-term goals, and other things that make you uniquely you.
- Outstanding fertility program: Testicular cancer and treatments can affect your fertility. We make sure our patients have the chance to have children later in life through our Penn Fertility Care program. In it, we offer advanced fertility preservation options like sperm banking (freezing and storing sperm for later use). We also have the unique ability to do sperm banking at the bedside for men who urgently need chemo for metastatic testicular cancer (when cancer has spread to other areas of the body). Learn about Penn Fertility and cancer.
- Clinical trials: Clinical research, like our trial using proton therapy to treat testicular cancer, gives patients access to breakthrough therapies and treatments. We can also offer more options to people with cancer that doesn’t respond to standard therapies. Learn more about our active GU cancer clinical trials program.
- Expertise in hard-to-treat cancers: Rarely, testicular cancers are resistant to standard treatments. We receive many referrals to our large program for these hard-to-treat cancers. Using our special expertise, we deliver effective treatments, including high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplant and new therapies not yet widely available.
- Testicular Cancer Center of Excellence: We are a designated Testicular Cancer Center of Excellence. The Testicular Cancer Awareness Foundation reserves this label for hospitals that show a high level of expertise in testicular cancer care.
- Convenience: Through our Penn Connected Health Virtual Visit program, it’s easy to receive world-class care from home. You can also receive radiation and chemo treatments near where you live and work. See our Abramson Cancer Center locations throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Our Testicular Cancer Treatments
Surgery to remove the affected testicle can cure testicular cancer. But sometimes, you need other treatments if the cancer has spread or to prevent its return.
The best treatments for you are often highly personal — and our doctors take the time to make sure you understand the risk and benefits of all your options.
Our testicular cancer treatments include:
Orchiectomy
Surgery to remove a testicle is called radical inguinal orchiectomy. It is an essential part of your treatment plan. During this surgery, surgeons remove the testicle with cancer and any affected lymph nodes.
Your doctor may also recommend chemotherapy or radiation after surgery (called adjuvant therapies) even if orchiectomy removes all visible cancers. This additional treatment ensures that we kill any remaining cancer cells.
Learn more about testicular cancer surgery.
Chemotherapy
Advances in chemotherapy have dramatically improved the survival rate of testicular cancer over the last several decades. Chemotherapy uses drugs to attack and kill cancer cells. It is systemic, meaning it affects cells throughout your body.
You may receive adjuvant chemotherapy to treat metastatic testicular cancer. These drugs are injected under the skin or into a vein or muscle.
For chemotherapy to be effective, it should be tailored to you. Our oncologists are known for their expertise in determining which drugs will be the most effective in each person.
High-Dose Chemotherapy with Stem Cell Transplant
Rarely, testicular cancer doesn’t respond to standard therapies. Or cancer may return after treatment. In these cases, high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplant can be effective.
Chemotherapy works by destroying rapidly multiplying cancer cells. But many of the body’s healthy cells multiply quickly, too. That’s why chemo doses must walk a delicate balance to be safe: People need enough medication to kill cancer cells but not harm too many healthy cells.
Stem cell transplants make it possible for patients to receive higher, more effective doses of chemotherapy. Before the chemo regimen, doctors harvest stem cells from your bloodstream to protect them from the chemo drugs. They then put them back into your body after chemotherapy.
Radiation Therapy for Seminomas
Forty percent of testicular cancers are seminomas. Because seminomas are more sensitive to radiation, you may receive adjuvant radiation to:
- Prevent the cancer from returning (recurrence)
- Treat any cancer cells that remain after surgery
Radiation therapy uses high-energy radiation to kill cancer cells. Radiation oncologists direct the radiation beams at lymph nodes in the abdomen (belly) where the cancer may spread.
We offer the latest radiation equipment, technology and treatments available to treat testicular cancer. Some of these advanced therapies include image-guided radiation therapy, intensity-modulated radiation therapy and proton therapy.
Proton Therapy
As one of the largest radiation therapy programs in the U.S., we invest in tools and technology that make radiation treatments safer. Proton therapy delivers lower, more precise doses of radiation while sparing healthy tissues.
Men younger than 34 account for half of all testicular cancers. Proton therapy lowers the risk for second cancers to develop as patients get older — a possible long-term radiation side effect. Proton therapy is a great treatment option for stage II testicular cancers.
Learn about proton therapy for testicular cancer.
Active Surveillance for Testicular Cancer
Not every male with early-stage testicular cancer needs more treatment after surgery. Instead, we use personalized active surveillance plans to check for cancer recurrence.
In our large active surveillance program, patients undergo regular imaging and blood tests. This approach helps males avoid overtreatment and short- and long-term treatment side effects. Learn more about testicular cancer surveillance.
Make an Appointment
Please call 800-789-7366 or request a callback.