Small lump on right testicle.

Hi Gary it could be benign or anything which is non cancer tumor, ultrasound can comfired if it a tumor or not but the only way to tell is to remove the testicle and do a biopsy on it but always remember that testicular cancer has the highest treatble rate and it even higher when caught early. myself was diagnosed with testicular cancer a few days ago with a stage 1 seminoma am waiting to see a cancer specialist soon to see what come next.

Hi Gary it could be benign or anything which is non cancer tumor, ultrasound can comfired if it a tumor or not but the only way to tell is to remove the testicle and do a biopsy on it but always remember that testicular cancer has the highest treatble rate and it even higher when caught early. myself was diagnosed with testicular cancer a few days ago with a stage 1 seminoma am waiting to see a cancer specialist soon to see what come next.

Thanks for your reply, think the doctor just caused me a lot of alarm by mentioning cancer straight away, even though she admitted that she knew very little about testicular cancer. 
good luck with your next steps. Thanks 

Hi Gary,

Unfortunately, from what I've read and from discussions with urologists, only an orchiectomy can confirm 100% testicular cancer after the pathology examination and report is conducted. The ultrasound scan has a fairly high accuracy and if you have a good radiologist, they can usually have a good estimate from the ultrasound results.

(There are errors from ultrasounds so they aren't perfect, but they tend to be a good indicator. Note- a few have commented on this forum that they were wrongly diagnosed from the scans and after surgery, it was found that they didn't have TC after all. So the ultrasound isn't 100% certain.)

For many GPs, they won't have necessarily a lot of experience with TC as it is actually a very rare cancer (relatively). However, while you might have a bit of a scare, I would see this as a proactive step by your doctor to refer you to an ultrasound, as clearly she has felt it necessitates further investigation. Remember- if detected early, TC is very treatable.

When I had my ultrasound, both the radiologist and urologist were pretty certain I had a tumour, and the radiologist even could suggest from the scan that it was a classic / pure seminoma. (Turns out it was.)

Even after my surgery, while waiting for the pathology lab results, I was still hoping it would be benign, even though deep down I knew it wasn't and from all the reading I'd done, the chances of a benign tumour in the testicle are very low (more likely to be cancerous).

In the end, the pathology report confirmed I had a Stage 1 seminoma.

The worst part for me was all the waiting, and not knowing for certain. So I can empathise with how you feel right now.

My advice would be to take things one step at a time, but also mentally and emotionally prepare yourself for the worst outcome- for me, I was hoping it was benign but was prepared if it was TC, so when finally the results confirmed it, the shock was not as bad and I could manage my emotions better. I also found that I could talk openly with friends and family (even before the results were received) and it put my mind at ease to know that TC is very treatable / curable.

Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions or just want to share your thoughts.

cheers, Kevin

Thanks for the reply Kevin, in my mind I’m preparing for the worst but also hoping for the best, hoping the ultrasound comes around quickly so we have a better idea where I am. I have no other symptoms other than a very small lump no bigger than around 5mm on testicle, she checked and said that the feel of testicle was very normal so again hopefully a good sign. I also have a history of cysts including testicular cysts when I was younger. I think it’s just when you hear the word cancer it knocks you for 6, especially as I lost my mam at 59 to the disease. 
thanks again for your reply. 

Hello, the doctor told me to check on a daily basis  that the lump wasn’t getting any bigger while checking today I’ve notice another very small lump on on back of testicle that hadn’t noticed before this now has me really worried. Has any one had any experience of this on lump is bad enough but 2 has me really worried. Does this mean that if it is cancer it could have spread or be aggressive? 

Hi Gary, would be anything but most properly a cyst, usually tumor are solid and doesn't move around and tumor usually grow on the side of the testicle or sometime u can have testicular cancer without any lump and just dull ache pain. non seminoma are the type of germ cell are aggressive and grow quick and the seminoma are the slow growing one. I had my left lump for like a year I think,  and it was the size of a marble and solid as a rock and I had another lump on back aswell but I did want most man did left it but am not sure why I did that. I finally step up and got myself to the doctor about 2 months ago and the doctor told me it was a cyst and send me for a ultrasound, 2 weeks later I had the ultrasound only to been told that it could be cancer after making another appointment to see expert on lump and cancer and another 2 weeks wait to be told that it could be most likely cancer on the same day I got my full blood court and tumor marker blood test done and it all came back normal but to be honest even if the tumor marker blood test came back normal there still a chance that u could still have testicular cancer and some of them doesn't have marker. waited another week for a pre assessment for surgery and after that a few days I had my left nut out of me. and here the scary part for me is waiting for the result I was so sure that the amount of time I left it am sure it has spreaded but it turn out that the ct scan show no spread which was a first victory for me and biopsy show that I had a seminoma stage 1 and now I been transfer to St bart hospital in London to see an expert. I try not to think about my cancer to much as I have a 2 year old daughter I spend most of my time with her and my family as much as I can to keep my mine of things.

Hello there been to get my ultrasound today, she was on with what seemed like forever doing it. She didn’t say a great deal at the end except that the report would be at doctors within 3/4 days I pressed her a bit for more info but all she said that she’d found some small calcifications that needed investigation. This now has me frantic with worry! Are these small calcifications cancer?  

Hi Gary, 

Thanks for sharing your experience. Did you speak to your doctor? I hope it turned out to be something not serious in the end.