Background:

Testicular tumor is the most frequent solid tumor in men between 20 and 34 years of age. Testicular tumors can be histologically divided into germ cell tumors, which present in 90-95% of cases, and non-germ cell tumors, which present in around 5%. Tumor markers are crucial for the diagnosis, classification, and prognosis of testicular tumors, as well as for surveillance after treatment.

Objective:

To know the actual prevalence of testicular cancer at our service, determine the clinical and pathologic characteristics of testicular cancer, and correlate tumor marker levels with histologic pattern and clinical stage of the disease.

Methodology:

A cross-sectional study analyzed the case records of patients with testicular cancer seen at the urology service, within the time frame of January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2018.

Results:

Ninety-nine patients with a mean age of 29±8.5 years were included. The most frequent tumors were germ cell tumors, reported in 99% of cases: 50 were mixed germ cell tumors (50.51%), 42 were seminoma (42.42%), and 5 were teratoma (5.05%). The most common TNM combination was T1 N0 M0. The most frequent clinical stage was stage I, followed by stage II, and then stage III. Alpha-fetoprotein was the only tumor marker that was associated with histologic pattern and possible disseminated disease.

Limitations:

Small sample size and a low incidence of some of the types of tumor were study limitations.

Originality:

Our analysis provides information on testicular cancer in a Latin American population, an infrequently studied cohort.

Conclusions:

The most frequent histologic pattern in our patients was mixed germ cell tumor and the most common TNM classification was T1a, N0, M0 and clinical stage I. Alpha-fetoprotein was the only predictive marker for histologic pattern and possible disseminated disease.

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