- With Mayo Clinic medical oncologist
Timothy Moynihan, M.D.
read biographyclose windowBiography of
Timothy Moynihan, M.D.
Timothy Moynihan, M.D.
"As a practicing medical oncologist, I meet with patients and families every day to help manage their course through this disease called cancer. This experience provides unique insight into the needs of cancer patients, their families and loved ones and brings into sharp focus the need for reliable information to be readily available in terms that can be easily understood." — Dr. Timothy Moynihan
Dr. Timothy Moynihan believes that providing consumers accurate, timely information on the broad, complex topic of cancer is the biggest challenge facing medical Web sites. As the guiding force behind our cancer coverage, he makes sure Mayo Clinic meets the test.
Dr. Moynihan, born in Las Vegas, N.M., but raised in Denver, is a consultant in medical oncology at Mayo Clinic and an associate professor at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. He is board certified in internal medicine, medical oncology, and hospice and palliative care medicine. He did his medical oncology training at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, and then went on to the University of Minnesota and St. Paul Regions Medical Center in St. Paul, Minn., for seven years before moving to Mayo Clinic in 1999. Dr. Moynihan is director of the palliative care program at Mayo Clinic and associate medical director of the Mayo Clinic hospice.
Dr. Moynihan currently serves as the education chair for the Department of Medical Oncology and fellowship program director. Four times he has been selected as Teacher of the Year in medical oncology and elected to the Teacher of the Year Hall of Fame. Past honors include distinguished clinical teacher at the University of Minnesota Medical School, best internist at the Medical College of Wisconsin and recipient of The Upjohn Achievement Award for Excellence in Medicine. He serves on several national committees for the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
"The Internet provides a ready source of information on a wide range of topics of interest to those affected by cancer," Dr. Moynihan says. "The difficulty is trying to decide which sites provide reputable information and which information is relevant to each individual patient. The long history and tradition of excellence associated with Mayo Clinic assures you that information provided will be reliable, up-to-date and comprehensive."
Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Question
Testicular microlithiasis: Is it associated with testicular cancer?
Is testicular microlithiasis associated with testicular cancer?
Answer
from Timothy Moynihan, M.D.
Testicular microlithiasis refers to small clusters of calcium seen on ultrasound examination of the testicles. The relationship between testicular microlithiasis and testicular cancer is uncertain.
Testicular microlithiasis is uncommon and has many possible causes, such as infections and injury. Most studies of testicular microlithiasis have evaluated men who have had testicular ultrasounds done for some other reason, such as swelling, pain or infertility. In these studies, there appears to be a small association between microlithiasis and testicular cancer. But there's not enough evidence to be certain that the microlithiasis caused cancer.
Few studies of healthy men with no symptoms have been conducted. But results indicate that testicular microlithiasis is much more common than is testicular cancer. This has lead researchers to believe microlithiasis is unlikely to increase an otherwise healthy man's risk of testicular cancer.
If testicular microlithiasis is noted on an ultrasound done for some other reason, your doctor may recommend that you do regular testicular self-exams and make an appointment if you find any usual lumps. If you have other risk factors for testicular cancer, your doctor may recommend close follow-up with annual testicular ultrasound scans.
- Costabile RA. How worrisome is testicular microlithiasis? Current Opinion in Urology. 2007;17:419.
- Jaganathan K, et al. Current management strategies for testicular microlithiasis. Nature Clinical Practice Urology. 2007;4:492.
- Peterson AC. The prevalence of testicular microlithiasis in an asymptomatic population of men 18 to 35 years old. The Journal of Urology. 2001;166:2061.
- Serter S, et al. Prevalence of testicular microlithiasis in an asymptomatic population. Scandinavian Journal of Urology and Nephrology. 2006;40:212.
- DeCastro BJ, et al. A 5-year followup study of asymptomatic men with testicular microlithiasis. The Journal of Urology. 2008;179:1420.
