Epidemiological features of testicular cancer in the Slovak Republic--retrospective study.
BACKGROUND
Testicular cancer (TC) is quite a rare malignancy, however, its medical importance has risen due to the rapid growth in incidence in the last three decades. Age-adjusted mortality rates have fallen within the space of 20 years.


METHODS
A national retrospective descriptive study evaluated the data of 1,805 patients with 1,832 TC diagnosed in Slovakia from 1993 to 2002. Patients and medical questionnaires, case histories, clinical symptoms and objective parameters in all cases of TC were analyzed.


RESULTS
The average age-adjusted incidence (to the world-standard population) (1993-2002) was 6.2/100,000; mortality 0.5/100,000 of males. When comparing the risk factors between the group of patients with bilateral and unilateral TC, the most frequent risk factor was inguinal hernia (8.6%, p = 0.0026). 3% of patients developed a bilateral TC. Metachronous tumors were found in 70.4% of patients with bilateralTC. The average age at diagnosis of the first tumor in patients with bilateral TC was 27.5 years (p = 0.001); most of them (55%) were diagnosed between the age of 20-29 years. The average age of patients with unilateral TC was 34 years. 8 patients presented with a synchronous bilateral tumor, 47 patients had a second tumor diagnosed 2-302 months after primary orchiectomy. In the case of seminomas, the time interval between the first and second tumor was 85 months, while for nonseminomatous tumors, the same interval was 72 months (a statistically insignificant difference).The median follow-up time of patients with TC was 112.5 months (range of 7-342 months), five-year survival was 96.2%.


CONCLUSIONS
Further studies of the epidemiologic characteristics of TC are inevitable in order to define the risk factors of the disease and the possibilities of timely therapeutical intervention.
Ondrusova
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Department of Cancer Epidemiology, Cancer Research Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovak Republic. martinacuninkova@hotmail.com
Ondrus
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D018154:Slovakia / Q000453:epidemiology; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D055815:Young Adult