According to a study, those who have testicular cancer have higher risks of developing intermediate prostate cancer, contributing to the growth of high-risk prostate cancer cases in the United States.
To be presented at the 2015 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, the case-control study examined 180,000 men and found that prostate cancer prevalence is likely to manifest in those that have a history of testicular cancer compared to those who don't. Researchers admit that changes to practices will not be recommended based on a single study but the results should provide enough groundwork to inspire further study into the link between prostate and testicular cancer.
Mohummad Minhaj Siddiqui, M.D., urologic robotic surgery director at the Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center at the University of Maryland and senior author for the study, however, still urges men with testicular cancer history to talk to their doctor about assessing risks for prostate cancer because of the apparent relationship between the diseases.
For the study, Siddiqui and colleagues analyzed data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results, working with information from 147,044 men with melanoma history and 32,435 with histories of testicular cancer. Melanoma was chosen as the controlling factor because it has not been associated before with prostate cancer, with researchers expecting that those with melanoma will face similar risks to prostate cancer as men in the general public. On average, patients developed prostate cancer around 30 years after they were diagnosed with their first cancer.
By age 80, overall incidence associated with prostate cancer has dramatically risen in the testicular cancer group compared to those with melanoma. Rates of high-risk or intermediate prostate cancer were also higher in those with testicular cancer compared to the melanoma group. Overall, testicular cancer led to 4.7 times more prostate cancer risk and 5.2 times more risk of developing the high-risk or intermediate form of the cancer.
According to the American Cancer Society, it is estimated that around 220,800 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2015. And out of those already with the cancer, about 27,540 will die. Prostate cancer mainly occurs in older men but 1 in every 7 men will be diagnosed with it during their lifetime. The cancer rarely hits before 40 years old, with the average diagnosis age set at about 66. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men, with about 1 in every 38 dying from it. As with other cancers, however, early detection is associated with better prognosis.
