Testicular tumors.Epidemiologic, etiologic, and pathologic features

Abstract

Observations on 6,000 testicular tumors revealed the following: Testicular tumors constitute the fourth most common cause of deaths from neoplasia in the age group of 15–34 years of age. There is a definite geographic, racial, and age distribution. The cause of testicular tumors is unknown, but cryptorchidism, trauma, infections, and genetic and endocrine factors appear to play a role in their development. Germ cell tumors comprise the large majority of testicular tumors and present one or more of 4 bask histologic patterns: seminoma, embryonal carcinoma, choriocarcinoma, and teratoma. In 40% the tumors show admixtures of 2 or more of these basic cell types. Tumors of specialized gonadal stroma constitute about 6% of testicular tumors and consist of Leydig cell, Sertoli cell, and granulosa-theca cell tumors, or admixtures of these. The most important metastatic tumor of the testes is malignant lymphoma, initially manifested as testicular tumor.