What is testicular cancer?

Cancer that develops in a testicle is called testicular cancer or cancer of the testis. Usually only one testicle is affected, but in some cases both are affected. About 90 to 95 per cent of testicular cancers start in the cells that develop into sperm, which are known as germ cells.

You can access further information about testicular cancer, including risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment from Cancer Council Victoria. You can also call our trusted cancer nurses on 13 11 20 for support and to learn about our range of services for people affected by cancer.

The Victorian Cancer Registry also operates an interactive web portal, Data Explorer, which provides more trends and statistics than published here.

How common is testicular cancer?

In 2023, 239 Victorian males were diagnosed with testicular cancer. Currently, testicular cancer is diagnosed at a rate of 7.1 per 100,000 males. The median age at diagnosis of testicular cancer is 33 years (Figure 1 & 2). Accounting for 0.6% of all cancers diagnosed and 0% of all cancer-related deaths in 2023, testicular cancer was the 20th most commonly diagnosed cancer and the 43rd most common cause of cancer-related deaths in Victorian males in 2023.

Trends in testicular cancer over time

Figure 3a shows for males between 2015 to 2023 the age standardised incidence rate of testicular cancer declined by an average of 1.2% per year. However this result was not statistically significant, meaning the change cannot be confidently considered real and may be due to random fluctuations.

Testicular cancer morphology

Figure 4 provides a summary of the different types of cells (morphology) which have caused testicular cancer among all cases. Most testicular cancer tumours, 58.6%, present as seminoma tumours.

Geographical variance in testicular cancer by local government area

Figure 5 demonstrates variation in age-standardised incidence rates of testicular cancer, by local government areas. Darker shading indicates areas with higher rates of testicular cancer.

Testicular cancer in people born overseas

Figure 6 shows the age standardised incidence rates of testicular cancer in Australian-born Victorian males compared to other major migrant groups, over the five-year period 2018 to 2022. The highest age standardised incidence rate of 16.6 was observed in those born in the Other Europe region and lowest rate of 1.2 was observed in people born in the South-East Asia region.

Testicular cancer five-year relative survival

Figure 7 shows the change in 5-year survival for testicular cancer, and the 5-year survival trend for all cancers over the same time period. It demonstrates that five-year relative survival has increased for testicular cancer between 1983-1987 and 2018-2022 from 91% to 98%.