Testicular Mesothelioma Symptoms, Causes & Survival Rate

Testicular Mesothelioma is basically a type of cancer which arises on the membrane that lines the testes.

This is a rare form of disease which is also termed as mesothelioma of the tunica vaginalis testis. The very peculiar thing about Testicular Mesothelioma is that it amounts to less than 5% of total mesothelioma cases.

In this post we are discussing about Testicular Mesothelioma causes, symptoms and treatment.

 

Testicular Mesothelioma Causes

After a person comes to know about Testicular Mesothelioma, he likes to know about how this rare form of disease is actually caused.

Unlike peritoneal or pleural mesothelioma that are easily traced due to the asbestos exposure, but physicians have still not able to find the root cause of the development of Testicular Mesothelioma which happens on the tunica vaginalis which is a also known as the pouch of serous membrane covering the testes.

The point to be noted here is that it generally appears in the form of white-yellow colored nodules right on the surface of the tunica vaginalis. Due to their presence, the nodules can encase the contents of the scrotum and makes the membrane to get thicken.

It has been seen that some type of local inflammation and trauma also play a major role in the development of this medical ailment. There are cases that are without any sort of identifiable risk factors.                                                                                                                                    

Prognosis & Survival Rate of Testicular Mesothelioma 

It has been observed that men with Testicular Mesothelioma have somewhat better prognosis as compared to some other most common  mesothelioma types.

Please note that up to 49% patients who are diagnosed with this type of mesothelopma generally survive up to 5 years after diagnosis.

There are 33% people who tend to survive up to 10 years. The above findings were published in the journal Urology where a case study was published in the year 2019.

Please also note that patients having biphasic cell type of mesothelioma were associated with the worse survival rate as compared to some other mesothelioma and epithelioid subtypes.

The original case study accommodated as many as 113 testicular mesothelioma patients. Out of them, 75% cases belonged to the epithelioid subtypes.

 

Testicular Mesothelioma Symptoms and Diagnosis

Please note that there are almost no unique symptoms found in testicular mesothelioma cancer.

It has been noted that many patients who have this kind of cancer initially receive an unfair and wrong diagnosis due to the fact that doctors commit mistakes with a more common condition called hernia.

Out of many, the most common testicular mesothelioma symptom happens to be hydrocele where a fluid gets build up in the scrotum.

Since the above is so rare that it doesn't give unique symptoms to the doctors so as to find a proper line of treatment.

Due to this, the most accurate way to get a diagnosis is done by performing a biopsy. It basically involves removing a tissue sample from the tumor site and finally sending it to lab for further testing.

In order to make this happen precisely, a technique called immunohistochemical staining is used which helps doctors determine if the person is actually suffering from testicular mesothelioma or another disease.

 

Treatment for Testicular Mesothelioma

In order to treat Testicular Mesothelioma, doctors generally take the help of surgery. In the above case study where it involved 113 patients, those who were found to have Testicular Mesothelioma were 98.2%.

In the above procedure, doctors simply remove the affected part of the testicle along with the entire spermatic chord.

In case, if it has spread to the adjoining areas like lymph nodes as well, doctors don't hesitate to remove them as well. The above surgical procedure where lymph nodes are removed is called lymphadenectomy.

As per a research conducted in 2021, it has been revealed that testicular mesothelioma requires extensive resection. This may include metastatic surgery, especially if complete resection is possible.

The study basically involves a multimodality treatment plan to treat any type of malignancy.

The above procedure is quite similar to a multimodal approach to a type of cancer called pleural mesothelioma. It generally offers the best patient outcomes.

In treating Testicular Mesothelioma, surgery is followed by chemotherapy which is given through pemetrexed and cisplatin. Other than that doctors can also give some sort of radiation therapy as well.

This is mainly done to kill remaining cancer cells and also helps to prevent the cancer type from returning.

There are some cases where it has been found that testicular mesothelioma happens to be a type of secondary tumor. The primary tumor is located within the peritoneum which lines the abdominal cavity.

In most of these situations, doctors generally have to treat the person for peritoneal mesothelioma as well.

Also Read: What Does Asbestos Look Like: Common Asbestos Related Queries