TURKISH JOURNAL OF ONCOLOGY 2025 , Vol 40 , Num 2
Testicular Cancer Presenting with a Mass in The Duodenum Years Later
Songül CEBECI 1,Rıza Umar GÜRSU 2,Merve CIN 3,Mert Mahsuni SEVINÇ 4
1Department of Internal Medicine, İstanbul Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul-Türkiye
2Department of Oncology, İstanbul Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul-Türkiye
3Department of Pathology, İstanbul Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul-Türkiye
4Department of General Surgery, İstanbul Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul-Türkiye DOI : 10.5505/tjo.2025.4483

Introduction

Dear Editor,
Testicular cancer is the most common malignancy in young men, with germ cell tumors as the predominant subtype.[1,2] Typically metastatic sites include intraabdominal lymph nodes, lungs, and liver, metastases to the gastrointestinal system, particularly the duodenum, are exceedingly rare. This however is a rare occasion.[3] Here, we report a unique case of a 40-year-old man who developed a duodenal metastasis from mixed germ cell testicular cancer ten years after initial diagnosis.

In 2014, the patient had mixed germ cell tumours and had a right radical orchiectomy and was treated with cisplatin-based chemotherapy for lungs which developed secondary metastasis. After treatment, he went into remission and remained disease free for the next ten years. In 2024, he presented with abdominal pain, and imaging revealed an obstructive duodenal mass, histopathologically confirmed as metastatic germ cell cancer. Despite surgical intervention and chemotherapy, the patient succumbed to pneumonia.

This case highlights the rare but possible late gastrointestinal metastasis of testicular cancer.[4] Clinicians should consider this in patients with a history of testicular cancer presenting with gastrointestinal symptoms, even years after remission.

Conflict of Interest: All authors declared no conflict of interest.

Financial Support: None declared.

Use of AI for Writing Assistance: No AI technologies utilized.

Authorship Contributions: Concept - S.C.; Design - S.C.; Supervision - R.U.G.; Funding - S.C.; Materials - M.C., M.M.S.; Data analysis and/or interpretation - S.C.; Literature search - S.C.; Writing - S.C.; Critical review - R.U.G.

Peer-review: Externally peer-reviewed.