Cancer Symptoms & Treatment: Pregnancy Test Can Diagnose Testicular Cancer

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An 18-year-old was diagnosed with testicular cancer with the help of a pregnancy test.  

According to Mirror, Byron Geldard went to see a doctor after spending a holiday in Kavos with his friends because of recurring pain on his side. He had complained of similar pain before the vacation to his GP.  

The teenager from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire said, "Before I went to Kavos I'd been getting this weird pain on and off, but I didn't think much of it," states Esbtrib. He adds, "I went to the GP about [the pain], but because I was going to the gym it was just put down to muscle pain." 

The young man's GP had attributed his on and off pain to "muscle soreness" due to exercising at the gym, reports Telegraph. However, when Geldard came back from Kavos, the pain became too much to bear and he went back to the doctor. 

According to Parent Dish, the doctor found a lump on Geldard's side during his second visit. The teenager was immediately referred for an ultrasound which revealed that a tumor had spread to his lungs. 

Geldard states, "I was told that it was cancer...," reports Mirror. 

Addenbrooke's Hospital, in Cambridge immediattely contacted him after the ultrasound and told him that a bed was ready for him at the Teenage Cancer Trust Ward. In addition, he was asked to provide a urine sample for a pregnancy test to check his hormones, reports Telegraph. 

"They didn't know what type of cancer I had. I could have had four or five different types," said Byron. The pregnancy test came out positive and Byron was diagnosed with stage four testicular cancer.  

According to The Chart CNN, pregnancy tests can diagnose certain types of testicular cancers, but not all of them. The site explains that some testicular cancers produce hormones, named Beta-HCG, that can also be found in a woman's placenta during pregnancy. In other words, Beta HCG is the hormone that results in a positive pregnancy test.  

Dr. Ted Gansler, director of medical content for the American Cancer Society, explains why pregnancy test are not always helpful when diagnosing testicular cancers. "Only a small minority of men with testicular cancer have HCG levels high enough to be detected by a home urine pregnancy test." 

Despite what Dr. Gansler says, a pregnancy test was able to help Byron Geldard. The now 19-year-old teen is cancer-free after extensive surgery, which removed some growth in his body and a testicle, reports Mirror.