While the initial diagnosis is straightforward, it's imperative for patients with testicular cancer to receive care congruent with national guidelines. Mayo Clinic testicular cancer experts Bradley C. Leibovich, M.D ., Lance C. Pagliaro, M.D. , and Bradley (Brad) J. Stish, M.D. , explain the methods they are using to work toward their goal of 100% cure for patients with testicular cancer. These methods include advanced diagnosis and screening practices, collaboration in multidisciplinary teams, excellent therapy options and clinical trials when appropriate. Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center's expert staff and state-of-the-art tools are leading innovations in the management of this rare cancer.
Testicular cancer is actually exceedingly rare. So there's only about 10,000 new cases of testicular cancer per year in the United States. And while the initial diagnosis is straightforward when patients receive care that is not congruent with our national guidelines, we often move from an extremely curable situation To a situation where patients may not be cured or the intensity of treatment to get cured results in significant added toxicity for the patient. Our goal at Mayo Clinic is 100% cure. And the earlier we can assist with patient management, the better chance that we can contribute to successful outcomes confirming the presence or absence of limbo vascular invasion and the specimen. The elements of testicular cancer that are present in terms of histological subtypes, nuances around the staging and options for therapy are all things that we can help with to assure that we get these patients set on the right track for high chances of cure. The treatment of germ cell tumors is very often a multimodal enterprise and we collaborate routinely in the course of patient care as well as formally in our multidisciplinary tumor board, patients referred to Mayo Clinic for consideration of the best options for treating their testicular cancer are given the full gamut of options available, including systemic therapy with standard chemotherapy clinical trials when appropriate. Excellent options for radiotherapy for those patients that are appropriate with pure salmon oMA and surgery with people that have done significant additional training and retro peritoneal lymph node dissection here at Mayo Clinic. We certainly have one of the most cutting edge proton beam therapy facilities in the whole world. We use pencil beam scanning proton technology, which allows us to really precisely target areas of testicular cancer within the body and allows us to optimize that dose distribution in a way where we can minimize exposure to nearby tissues. This helps patients not only during their course of therapy, to have less short term side effects as a result of treatment, but also decreases that risk of radiation exposure to nearby tissues that can lead to long term complications. We would actually appreciate an opportunity to weigh in on every patient with a new diagnosis of testicular cancer to assure we're giving the best possible treatment for each patient. In many cases, we would be happy with a phone call to discuss it. Or we could simply do a video visit with the patient to start talking about the best therapeutic options. And in many cases, that would also result in us collaborating with you and the ongoing care for that patient, which we would expect would be done at home in the majority of circumstances
