Why failing to check your testicles often could lead to deadly ‘cannonball lung’, warns doctor

A simple 10-second self-examination could mean the difference between life and an aggressive cancer that causes cannonball-shaped tumors in the lungs.

Testicular cancer is the leading cause of a condition doctors call “cannonball lung,” in which the disease spreads to the lungs and forms a patchwork of rapidly multiplying tumors.

The chances of survival worsen from around 96 percent when detected early to just 73 percent once the cancer has spread beyond the testicles to the lungs.

Dr. Sam Ghali, a Florida-based emergency department doctor, took to Twitter to warn people about the deadly risk, after seeing the scenario in a young patient.

In a voice recording posted on the social media site, told of a man in his 20s who went to the hospital for a persistent cough and was found to have late-stage testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs.

Multiple growths appeared as cloudy spots on the chest X-ray, a classic case of “cannonball metastasis,” Dr. Ghali said.

If detected early, for example by self-examination, testicular cancer is largely treatable.

A nearly perfect 99 percent of testicular cancer patients who get it before it spreads throughout the body will survive. That rate drops slightly to 96 percent when the cancer spreads to the lymph nodes in the back of the abdomen.

But if the cancer is left untreated and manages to spread further, it often ends up in the lungs.

There are no hard numbers to quantify exactly how many men with testicular cancer develop cannonball-shaped nodules in the lungs.

The spread of cancer to the lungs or other organs depends on the physiology of each patient. A subtype of testicular cancer called non-seminoma has a higher chance of metastasizing compared to seminomas which tend to grow and spread more slowly.

Cannonball-like lesions can also result from other types of cancer, such as kidney, breast, and colon cancer.

Dr. Ghali told his 472,000 Twitter followers; “Right off the bat, we noticed these large, round, very well-circumscribed lesions” in both lungs.

‘There are so many you can’t even count them all. That is the classic appearance of what is known as cannonball metastasis.

Testicular cancers are relatively uncommon: approximately 0.4 percent of men will be diagnosed with this condition at some point in their lives.

However, it is the most common cancer in men ages 15 to 44.

Dr Ghali said: ‘The reason I wanted to share this case with you is that this young man was finally examined when he developed a cough that just wouldn’t go away… but he was not examined for a testicular mass which he noticed and in fact it continued to grow.

‘We see this too often. The human trait of denial is very powerful. People just tell themselves it’s nothing and it will go away. And before you know it, time keeps passing and you get used to the fact that you’ve been putting it off, and by the time you get tested, it’s too late.’

Men’s health experts have long advocated for more self-examinations as an easy, non-invasive way to make sure everything looks normal and doesn’t require the attention of a trained medical professional.

Dr. Ghali added: “Guys, if you’re listening to this and notice something – a lump, a mass, anything strange – get it checked out.”

The entire self-exam lasts about 10 seconds. Men should place their fingers behind the testicle and their thumb in front.

Using the pads of the fingers and thumb instead of the tips, the thumb should be gently rotated from the top to the bottom of the testicle on the front and side, and then back.

This should be done on both sides and the testicles should feel soft and firm. If a lump (firm and possibly the size of a pea) can be felt, the doctor should do a second look.