Glossary

Here are definitions of medical terms related to testicular cancer.

Benign: Not cancerous. A growth that is not cancerous

CT scan: A painless high-tech procedure that uses x-rays to produce images of organs and body structures.

Inguinal: Relating to the groin, the area between the abdomen and thigh.

Impotence: The inability to achieve or maintain an erection. Impotence is the most common male sexual disorder, affecting most men at some time in their lives.

Malignant: Cancerous. An uncontrolled growth that can spread into the surrounding tissues and around the body.

MRI: A painless and safe high-tech diagnostic procedure that uses powerful magnets and radiowaves that are converted by a computer into images of organs and body structures without the use of x-rays or radiation.

Orchiectomy: Surgical removal of a single testis or of both the testes.

Testosterone: The most important of the male sex hormones, responsible for stimulating bone and muscle growth and sexual development.

Tumor: an abnormal mass of tissue that results from excessive cell division. A tumor may be benign (not cancerous) or malignant (cancerous).

Undescended testis: A testis that has failed to fully descend from the abdomen into the scrotum in the growing baby, while still in the womb.