Story:
If a man takes a pregnancy test and gets a positive result, it means he most likely has testicular cancer.
Analysis:
This message circulating through social media claims that if a man gets a positive result in home pregnancy test, it means he most likely has testicular cancer. The claims are partially fact!
The claim originated from an incident on Reddit that happened in 2012. When a man found his ex-girlfriend’s pregnancy test in his medicine cabinet, he took the test for the sake of fun, and was surprised at the result showing he was pregnant. A related cartoon, followed by other comments on the Reddit post insisted that pregnancy tests identify hCG, a hormone produced during pregnancy — and in testicular cancer. When the man got tested, it was found that he did have small tumor in one of his testicles, but fortunately in a very early, curable stage. This is how the claims of pregnancy test in man related to testicular cancer went on circulating. That’s not entirely fact however!
Pregnancy tests work by detecting a hormone called Beta-HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin), which is produced by the cells of a woman’s placenta during pregnancy, but it is also excreted by some tumors including some, but not all testicular cancers. Only a small number of men with testicular cancer have HCG levels high enough to be detected by a home urine pregnancy test. This means that a man can have testicular cancer even if the pregnancy test shows a negative result.
So the home pregnancy test would not be a useful, reliable method of screening testicular cancer in men. It should also be noted that the levels of these tumor markers like Beta-HCG can also increase in certain noncancerous conditions, and can cause false positive results. The first sign of testicular cancer, in general, is a lump or a swollen formation on a testicle, making it larger than normal. Doctors upon physical examination may order ultrasound and other tests to confirm.
Hoax or Fact:
Partially fact.
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