Western medicine treatment methods for testicular cancer

Testicular cancer is a disease that occurs in the male reproductive organs and has a vital impact on male fertility. Once you have testicular cancer, you should treat it in time. Patients need to receive treatment under the guidance of a professional doctor based on their own condition. There are both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine treatments for testicular cancer. Today I will introduce to you the Western medicine treatments for testicular cancer.

There are three main Western medicine treatments for testicular cancer:

First, surgical treatment for testicular cancer. The method of removing part of the testicle through the groin is called terminal inguinal orchiectomy. Patients who undergo this treatment may worry that removing one testicle will affect their sexual ability and may cause infertility. However, men with only one healthy testicle can still have normal erections and produce sperm. Therefore, surgical removal of one testicle will not make the patient impotent or infertile. In addition, during the operation, the doctor can place an artificial testicle in the scrotum. This artificial testicle weighs and feels like a normal testicle, and people who don’t know it cannot distinguish between an artificial testicle and a natural testicle by appearance. Some lymph nodes deep in the abdomen will also be removed. Although this operation will not affect the patient's normal erection and orgasm, it will cause infertility because it may hinder ejaculation.

Second, radiotherapy for testicular cancer. Radiotherapy is a method of using high-energy rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Radiotherapy is a local therapy that only affects cancer cells in the treated area. When treating testicular cancer, doctors use an accelerator outside the patient's body to send high-energy rays to the abdominal lymph nodes. Spermatogonia are very sensitive to radiation. Non-spermatogonia are not sensitive to radiation, so radiotherapy is generally not used for patients with non-spermoma cancer. Radiotherapy should be used after orchiectomy. Radiotherapy not only affects cancer cells, but also normal cells. The side effects of radiotherapy are usually determined by the dose of treatment. Common side effects include fatigue, skin changes in the treatment area, nausea, and diarrhea. Radiotherapy can affect the patient's sperm production, and most patients will still be fertile within 1 to 2 years.

Third, chemotherapy for testicular cancer. Chemotherapy is a method of killing cancer cells throughout the body through anticancer drugs. Chemotherapy is generally used after surgery to kill the remaining cancer cells after surgery. This method is called adjuvant therapy. If the cancer is in the late stage, chemotherapy can also be used as the initial treatment. Most anticancer drugs are injected directly into the vein. Chemotherapy is a systemic therapy, which means that the drug circulates throughout the body with the blood and affects both cancer cells and normal cells throughout the body. The side effects of this treatment usually depend on the type and dose of the drug used. Common side effects include nausea, hair loss, fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, chills, cough, mouth pain and rash. It also includes dizziness, numbness, poor reflexes, and hearing loss in both ears.