BACKGROUND:

Testicular cancer accounts for 5% of the tumors in reproductive-age men and there has recently been an increase in its incidence. Diagnosis is made through clinical evaluation, tumor markers, and testicular ultrasound. Histologic strain determines treatment response and outcome.

OBJECTIVE:

To report the epidemiologic, histopathologic, and etiologic characteristics of testicular cancer at a tertiary care hospital within the time frame of 2012-2017.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

A retrospective, observational, and descriptive study was conducted on patients with the diagnosis of testicular cancer of any histologic strain seen at the urology service of the Hospital General de México within the time frame of 2012 to 2017. The qualitative variables were expressed as simple, relative frequencies in percentages. Frequency variability was obtained through the 95% CI. Age was expressed in median and maximum and minimum values. The chi-square test and the Kruskal-Wallis test were employed to contrast the differences between tumor types, according to the variables analyzed.

RESULTS:

A total of 142 patients were studied, 44.4% of whom presented with mixed germ cell tumors and 43.7% with classic seminomas. Fifty percent of the patients presented with the disease at 20 to 30 years of age (mean 35.5). With respect to laterality, 56.3% of the tumors were on the left side and 43.7% on the right. In relation to lymph node dissemination (N) of the seminomatous tumors, 80.6% of the cases (n = 50) were stage N0 and 95.2% (n = 59) did not present with pulmonary metastasis, or any other, at the time of diagnosis. Of the nonseminomatous tumors (mixed germ cell tumors), 57.2% (n = 36) were stage N0 and 87.3% (n = 55) were M0. There was a slight increase in testicular cancer in the last two years.

CONCLUSIONS:

Despite our results, we believe a different study methodology is required to determine the cause of testicular cancer in our population.