;Resize=(1200,627)&impolicy=perceptual&quality=mediumHigh&hash=3aa1f5af3a25ac5fc635210dc04c68ba613244643c0b814e59502cdaf1eda208 "Four cases of testicular cancer in the Bundesliga: This is how high the risk is for young men")
Sébastien Haller’s fairy tale story is currently getting a bit of a setback. Last year, the BVB star first beat testicular cancer and then almost shot Borussia to the championship. Now he is increasingly sitting on the bench due to poor fitness values. A side effect of the four chemos he had to endure? That is not known. One thing is clear: Haller has beaten cancer and BVB is sticking with the striker. “We will still need his quality this season. Seb certainly hasn’t forgotten how to score goals!” says BVB sports director Sebastian Kehl to “Bild”.
The report about Haller once again brings the issue of testicular cancer into focus. It caused a stir last year when four Bundesliga professionals made their testicular cancer public within a few months. In addition to BVB star Haller, Union’s Timo Baumgartl (now Schalke 04) and the two Hertha players Marco Richter (now 1. FSV Mainz 05) and Jean-Paul Boëtius also spoke openly about their diagnosis. Even back then, people were wondering: Are professional soccer players or professional athletes in general possibly more at risk?
4200 cases per year – the frequency of testicular cancer
A brief excursion into the numbers: According to estimates by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), almost 279,000 men in Germany are diagnosed with cancer every year. With around 4,200 cases, testicular cancer only accounts for 1.6 percent. For comparison: 65,200 men get prostate cancer every year and 34,000 men get colon cancer.
However, one group is an exception: young men. Testicular cancer is by far the most common form of cancer among 18 to 40 year olds.
Higher risk of testicular cancer for football professionals? “There is no scientific evidence for this”
Are professional footballers or competitive athletes in general even more at risk? “As far as we know, the extent of physical activity has no influence on the risk of developing testicular cancer,” say oncologists Christoph Oing from the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle and Christoph Seidel from the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf to FOCUS online. “In our opinion, the impression that competitive athletes are particularly affected simply comes from the fact that they fall into the age group of men most often affected by testicular cancer, namely men between the ages of 18 and 40,” they explain.
The reputation of the professionals certainly also plays a role in these cases. “Testicular cancer in a young competitive athlete can lead to immediate media attention,” say the experts. They see this as a positive effect: “It is certainly very helpful in supporting educational campaigns and thus increasing public awareness of this rare, malignant but fortunately mostly curable tumor disease.”
When asked, the Professional Association of German Urologists (BvDU) and the German Society for Andrology (DGA) refer to a joint statement: “According to the current status, there is no scientific evidence that there is a higher risk.” It is currently assumed that there is a “coincidence.” “, i.e. a coincidence.
Testicular cancer – you should know these risk factors
They also praise the way the professional players deal with their illness. Because: “Even without a proven connection, the general risk of testicular cancer in young men – until now largely a taboo topic – remains.” The danger is that many young men still don’t know this. “A circumstance that currently seems to be changing thanks to the footballers’ open approach to their illness.”
In addition to age, there are other risk factors that men should be aware of. The German Cancer Society says:
Testicular malposition such as inguinal or pendulum testicles and undescended testicles, previous testicular cancer, family history, for example if father or brother are ill or have been diagnosed with infertility
Unlike most other cancers, lifestyle, including smoking or alcohol consumption, as well as environmental factors do not play a role according to current knowledge.
The good news: 95 percent of men with testicular cancer recover
Fortunately, the chances of recovery for patients with testicular cancer are very high. The earlier testicular cancer is detected, the better the chances of recovery. “If the disease is detected early, the cure rate is almost 100 percent,” say the experts Oing and Seidel. But even if the tumor has already spread, the chances of recovery are excellent at 67 to 95 percent compared to most other malignant tumor diseases, they emphasized. And in general, around 95 percent of men with testicular cancer recover.
So did the four Bundesliga professionals. They all beat cancer and were even able to support their teams again after a few months. The first experts are already in favor of including a preventive examination in the medical checks of professionals. Until then, the following applies to everyone, not just professionals: check yourself regularly and arrange preventive examinations with a urologist.