the testis or repair an undescended testis through a scrotal incision, testis tumors always drain directly into the abdominal lymph nodes and not into the groin lymph nodes.
The most frequent site of organ metastases is the lungs, although in advanced cases the liver, bones and brain can be involved, particularly in cases of choriocarcinoma and, to a lesser extent, embryonal cell carcinoma .
What Causes It Unknown. There is no firm evidence that heredity is a factor, although a number of father and son cases have been described. There has been some association with a few uncommon genetic diseases such as hermaphroditism (mixture of male/female development) and Klinefelter's and Tumer's syndromes.
The failure of the testis to descend into the scrotum (cryptorchidism) accounts for 10 percent of testicular cancers. But it is not known whether cryptorchidism is due to some underlying testicular abnormality that prevented the testicle's migration into the scrotum or to an anatomic abnormality that made an otherwise normal testis remain within the abdominal cavity, thereby leading to a cancerous change by, for example, raising the temperature of the testicle.
Other postulated causes are excessive maternal bleeding during pregnancy, testicular injury, mumps, HIV infection and the use of the synthetic female hormone diethylstilbestrol (DES) usually taken during pregnancy to prevent miscarriage. (DES has been implicated in the development of vaginal cancer.)
