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Pregnancy test led man to find he had cancer
Friday, November 16, 2012
A man who took his ex-girlfriend?s pregnancy test for a joke found out he had testicular cancer after being alerted by users on a website where his story was posted.
The man, whose name has not been made public, was shocked to see two pink lines after jokingly taking the test, which had been left in his bathroom cabinet by an ex-girlfriend.
The scene was drawn out as a cartoon and submitted to the website Reddit, where it drew over 1,300 comments in three days.
"You may have testicular cancer! Get to an oncologist, tell them you took a pregnancy test and it came out positive," one wrote.
The man did visit a doctor where a tiny lump was found in his right testicle.
Pregnancy tests detect beta human chorionic gonadotropin, a hormone in the blood and the urine produced by the developing placenta. Experts say beta hCG can also signal testicular cancer.
"It turns out a fair number of testicular cancers make the same exact hormone," said Dr Mark Pomerantz, a genitourinary oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. "There are very few things in the body that produce beta hCG, and testicular cancer is one of them."
The tumour was caught early, but the man might have to have his right testicle surgically removed.
"The testicle usually has to come out. But we?re lucky with this disease, in that the vast majority of cases ? even if they?re caught further along ? are still very curable," said Pomerantz.
The five-year survival rate for testicular cancer confined to the testicle is 99%, according to the American Cancer Society. Even if the disease has spread to nearby lymph nodes and other organs, requiring radiation and chemotherapy, the five-year survival rate is 72%. "It?s one of the only solid tumours that can be reliably cured by even if it has metastasised," said Pomerantz.
While a positive pregnancy test can be a fluky clue, the first sign of testicular cancer is usually a painless lump.
The case is reminiscent of the occasion when a sharp-eyed surgeon spotted a small lump on the side of the Irish former overseas aid minister, Conor Lenihan, during a 2007 television appearance.
Mr Lenihan was on Prime Time when one viewer, a surgeon, spotted a lump on the left side of his jaw.
The following day the surgeon rang Mr Lenihan?s Dublin office and left a message asking him to call back about "a private matter".
The surgeon advised him to see a head and neck specialist immediately.
Doctors discovered a tumour which, although benign, could have caused disfigurement and speech difficulties if it had gone untreated.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ietopstories/~3/CC2gc_1h9uk/
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