Keywords:

Testicular cancer, self-examination, awareness, urology.

The American Association for Cancer Research has declared the month of April as the global awareness month for testicular cancer (TC).¹ Worldwide, TC is the most frequently reported malignancy in the males aged 20-40 years, while being the second most reported cancer in the teenage group of 15-19 years.² The Collective Cancer Registry Report of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital Lahore from 1994 to 2022 states its prevalence to be 4% in Pakistan.³

Various factors, such as sociocultural taboos, religious myths, and marked illiteracy, are some of the key factors for the lack of awareness regarding TC. Male patients are not open to discuss their sexual and reproductive problems even within their families. Getting diagnosed with TC is considered a “death sentence” owing to the worse prognosis. Religious and egoistic myths exist in our society, which also contribute toward the delayed diagnosis of this clinical entity. The educational curricula and mass media are devoid of any such concepts of awareness for teens as well as for adults to encourage timely detection and management of this grave disease.

The European Association of Urology (EAU) and the National Institute of Cancer, United States, advocate monthly “testicular self-examination” (TSE) among males aged 18-35 years.^4,5 The EAU further emphasizes that the stage and prognosis of TC are highly related to its early diagnosis, which in usual presentation is possible by TSE.⁴

TC and TSE awareness should be started at home. This public awareness poster is an easy approach to make the general public, attending the outpatient department, understand the very basics of TC and TSE.