Doctors: Thunder player’s cancer diagnosis shows why young men must know the signs

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — The Oklahoma City Thunder announced Thursday that 20-year-old point guard Nikola Topić has been diagnosed with testicular cancer—a rare condition doctors say tends to strike young men and is highly treatable when caught early.

Thunder General Manager Sam Presti said Topić is currently undergoing chemotherapy, and his only responsibility right now is focusing on treatment.

“Our only expectations of him are to focus on this,” Presti said. “This is his only priority right now.”

Presti said Topić has a strong medical team and an optimistic outlook.

“He has a tremendous group of oncologists at OU, M.D. Anderson,” Presti said during the 4 p.m. press conference. “And they are extremely positive about his outlook in dealing with his situation.”

While the diagnosis may seem surprising for a man so young and fit, doctors say Topić’s age puts him squarely in the group most testicular cancer affects the most.

“It’s most common ages 15 to 30, or 35,” said Dr. Mohammad Ramadan, an urologist with SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital. “And then the incidence goes down for ages above that until you hit about age 50 and above, and then it rises a little bit.”

Dr. Ramadan said regular self-exams are key to early detection.

“Just do monthly self-exams, like in the shower and feel each testicle,” he said. ”And if you feel any mass or anything hard on the testicle itself, that would be something that you would go and see a doctor for.”

He said early intervention can be lifesaving—and ignoring symptoms can be dangerous.

“The worst thing you could do is feel a mass on the testicle and just ignore it for weeks or months at a time,” Dr. Ramadan said. “And I think that’s probably a problem with the male gender more than the females. Men tend not to follow up or go see a doctor as often as they should.”

The good news, he said, is that most cases of testicular cancer are very treatable.

“Most testicular cancer has an excellent prognosis,” he said. “More than 98% of testicular cancers can be cured, either with surgery alone or surgery and chemotherapy.”

Dr. Ramadan said testicular cancer affects about one in every 250 men.

He also urged men over 40 to get screened for prostate cancer, which affects roughly one in eight men—the same rate as breast cancer affects women.