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Review
. 2009 Nov;5(9):1389-402.
doi: 10.2217/fon.09.116.

Etiologic factors in testicular germ-cell tumors

Katherine A McGlynn  1 , Michael B Cook
Affiliations
Review

Etiologic factors in testicular germ-cell tumors

Katherine A McGlynn et al. Future Oncol. 2009 Nov.

Abstract

Globally, testicular cancer incidence is highest among men of northern European ancestry and lowest among men of Asian and African descent. Incidence rates have been increasing around the world for at least 50 years, but mortality rates, at least in developed countries, have been declining. While reasons for the decreases in mortality are related to improvements in therapeutic regimens introduced in the late 1970s, reasons for the increase in incidence are less well understood. However, an accumulating body of evidence suggests that testicular cancer arises in fetal life. Perinatal factors, including exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals, have been suggested to be related to risk.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Incidence of testicular germ cell tumors, seminomas and nonseminomas by age, U.S. SEER-9 registries, 1973-2006.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Age-standarized global incidence of testicular cancer. From: J. Ferlay, F. Bray, P. Pisani and D.M. Parkin. GLOBOCAN 2002: Cancer Incidence, Mortality and Prevalence Worldwide. IARC CancerBase No.5, version 2.0, IARCPress, Lyon, 2004.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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