Monitoring testicular cancer (surveillance)

If you have stage 1 testicular cancer (early stage) with a low risk of it coming back after orchidectomy, your doctor may recommend monitoring, sometimes called surveillance, instead of further cancer treatment. This is when you have regular checks for signs of the cancer coming back (recurrence).

Monitoring aims to find any signs of cancer early, when it is easier to treat and cure. This means you avoid having adjuvant treatment, such as chemotherapy, which you may not need. You only have treatment if your tumour marker levels increase, or if scans show the cancer has come back.

Only a small number of testicular cancers come back. If it does come back, finding it early means there is still a high chance of curing it. But you may need a longer course of chemotherapy.

Your doctor and nurse will give you all the information you need to help you to decide if surveillance is right for you.

We have more information about making decisions about your cancer treatment.

You usually need regular clinic appointments for several years. As time passes, the risk of the cancer coming back reduces. That means your appointments and tests will become less often.

It is important to go to your surveillance appointments. If your address changes, make sure the hospital knows your new address. It is also important to tell your doctor if you get any new symptoms or feel unwell between appointments. You can arrange an earlier clinic appointment if you need to. Some appointments can happen by telephone in the first instance. The sooner a possible recurrence is diagnosed, the easier it is to treat.