Testicular Cancers in Children: Epidemiologic Characteristics

Abstract

To study risk (actors for testicular cancers in childhood, we examined 253 death certificates for U.S. children dying from these neoplasms, 1960–67, and 70 medical records from 14 institutions. Death rates exhibited an age peak in early childhood and a marked rise after puberty among whites. In contrast, persistently low rates occurred in black children and adolescents. Several reports have indicated a rising frequency of testicular tumors in young adults in recent decades, but mortality rates for children have remained stable. Embryonal carcinoma was the most common cell type reported in early childhood, and seminoma and choriocarcinoma were rare before puberty. Of the 70 children in the hospital series, 15 (21%) had inguinal hernia, undescended testis, or other genitourinary defects, a frequency which appears excessive. Since genitourinary defects also accompany Wilms' tumor, it is likely that the relationship between oncogenesis and teratogenesis is especially close in the developing genitourinary tract.