Active clinical trials for "Testicular Neoplasms"

Risks from imaging-related radiation exposure have become a popular topic in the media. Because these tests are commonly applied to patients at a cancer center, it is important to understand what patients know, how they feel about what they know, where they get their information, and how satisfied they are with available risk-benefit communication on this topic. The purpose of this study is to understand how cancer patients perceive risks and benefits of diagnostic radiation and their satisfaction with healthcare communication on this topic.

RATIONALE: Learning about long-term effects in patients with testicular cancer may help doctors plan better treatment and follow-up care. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is using CT scans to follow patients who have been treated for metastatic testicular cancer.

Testicular Cancer is the most prevalent malignancy among men between 20 and 34 years of age, with incidence rates rising in western countries including Israel. Cure rate of testicular cancer exceeds 90% with modern treatments. Thus issues such as quality of life (QoL), coping, effects on couple relationships, cognitive function, cognitive orientation and hormonal function become increasingly important. This study aims to assess all these issues using validated, reproducible questionnaires and hormonal plasma levels, and compare them between testicular cancer survivors and controls.

Collect blood samples and associated clinical data prior to, during, and post radiation treatment.

Recent data suggest that sperm cells carry an epigenetic message during spermatogenesis and that this message is crucial for the future development of the embryo. This epigenetic signature is notably represented by methylation of genes subjected to imprinting (GSI) and the methylation of transposable elements (TE). Data on the maintenance of the imprint and of the control of TE accompanying human gametogenesis in a context of adult germinal testicular cancers, seminomas, are extremely fragmentary for tumour tissues and inexistent for gametes. The aim of this study is to determine whether patients with seminomas in comparison with fertile men carry a higher risk of presenting epigenetic alterations affecting their gametes. This study is based on the use of an existing collection of biological samples. 90 samples will be selected and split into 3 groups: Group 1: 30 sperm samples from patients with seminomatous testicular tumours Group 2: 30 sperm samples from fertile patients Group 3: 30 sperm samples from infertile patients After treatment of the samples (thawing, cell sorting and removal of cryoprotectants), they will be analysed.