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Pregnancy test as a method of cancer diagnosis
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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An ordinary pregnancy test, which can be purchased at any drugstore, helped doctors detect testicular cancer in a young man from the UK. 19-year-old Byron Gelgard learned about the terrible disease immediately after returning from summer holidays. He went to the doctors complaining of constant pain in the groin area, at first the doctors took the symptom for a sprain that could have occurred during sports, but after the examination everything turned out to be much more serious.
The principle of any pregnancy test is to determine the level of certain hormones that are produced in the female body with the onset of pregnancy. A rapid increase in hormones ( beta-chorionic gonadotropin ) occurs not only during pregnancy, but also during the development of certain types of cancer, including testicular cancer, which is why pregnancy tests are prescribed by specialists as one of the diagnostic methods.
As cancer cells spread throughout the body, levels of beta-human chorionic gonadotropin become extremely high, said Danish Mazhar, a medical oncologist at the University Hospital for Cancer in Cambridge. Since men are naturally unable to become pregnant, the tests are used as a diagnostic tool for testicular cancer when the clinical picture is right, to make a definitive diagnosis.
Byron Gelgard took the terrible news quite hard, and it took him a while to realize everything that was happening to him. According to the young Briton, everything that happened to him was hardly reminiscent of reality. After contacting doctors and undergoing an examination, the young man had to take a pregnancy test as prescribed by doctors, which, to his surprise, turned out to be positive, as a result of which Byron was told that a cancerous tumor had grown in his testicles.
Further treatment also took place in a slightly strange form, as Byron himself put it. Specialists decided to give him an epidural anesthesia (a method of pain relief used during childbirth). Further examination showed that the cancer had affected not only the testicles, but also the lungs and part of the young man's abdomen. During the surgery, oncosurgeons removed one testicle and a tumor from Byron's abdomen with adjacent lymph nodes.
The young man underwent treatment for more than six months. After the operation, Byron underwent a full course of chemotherapy. During the treatment, specialists again used pregnancy tests to assess the patient's condition and the effectiveness of the therapy. According to the tests, the level of beta-chorionic gonadotropin in the young Briton's body began to decrease. At this stage, Byron is in remission.
According to the young man himself, the news of the terrible diagnosis was hard for him, and now, after successful treatment, he intends to make every effort to ensure that as many teenagers as possible learn about this disease, as well as that cancer is not a death sentence, and that it can and should be fought.
Byron is now planning to take part in a comedy show about testicular cancer, which aims to bring more information to people about the disease and its treatment methods.
The young Briton also provides all possible assistance to the hospital where he was treated. As Byron himself noted, he was in comfortable conditions, in a ward with a TV and free Wi-Fi. Also, during his stay in the hospital, the young man met Stephen Fry and John Bishop, who morally supported the young man.
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