WHAT is the most common cancer in men of between 15 and 45? If you answered testicular, go to the top of the class.

Cyclist Lance Armstrong and footballer Jason Cundy are among celebrities who have gone public about their own battles with the disease, showing that being young and fit is not necessarily any protection.

Around 2,000 men a year are diagnosed with testicular cancer, with the Royal Bourn-emouth Hospital seeing about 30 cases a year.

RBCH consultant Andrew Wedderburn explained that although the cause is unknown, men born with undescended testes, small testicles, or who have a family history of testicular cancer were more at risk of developing it.

“Most men pick it up just by noticing a lump in the testicles.

“Often it’s a small, hard lump and is picked up by partners. If people are anxious they may leave it. Some people turn up with a testicle the size of a tennis ball. The lump may or may not be painful, but they need to go to their GP promptly,” he said.

Around half the cases fast-tracked to hospital turn out not to be cancer, of course, but Mr Wedderburn urged: “If you are worried about a testicular lump, get it checked sooner rather than later. Testicular cancer is dangerous – it can spread quickly – but it’s amazingly curable.”

There are two main types. Teratoma is more common in men in their 20s and 30s, and seminoma more common in men in their thirties and forties.

Mr Wedderburn said: “The GP will refer patients, if appropriate, to see a urologist for ultrasound or blood tests, which can help diagnosis. Generally, treatment involves removing the testicle and sometimes taking a sample from the other side.”

If cancer is diagnosed and has not spread, surgery alone may stop it in its tracks. Men are offered sperm banking before the operation, but don’t always take it up because the other testicle should still work normally.

They can also be given a false testicle.

“We prefer that the prosthesis is done at the same time as removal, but it can be put in later,” said Mr Wedderburn.

“Some men find it a little bit uncomfortable and a lot of men in a stable relationship are not so concerned about appearance.”

He added: “You may need radiotherapy to your tummy because that’s where it spreads to first. If it’s a good prognosis, one dose of chemotherapy may be sufficient to reduce the risk of recurrence from 15 to five per cent.

“For higher-risk tum-ours, or if the scan shows it has spread, the patient will have several cycles of chemotherapy, but the cure rate is well over 90 per cent even if it has spread at diagnosis.

“Patients are often quite shocked because they think it’s an infection or they have knocked themselves playing sport. What I always try and do is reassure them. They can generally come out with a positive message.”