In 2009, Alva started experiencing acute pain in his abdomen, which would frequently occur in bouts throughout the day. Initially, he tried to overcome the pain by popping painkillers. When the pain persisted, he approached doctors. “I went to at least three doctors in a month. All of them prescribed painkillers but none was effective,” says Alva, who finally went to L H Hiranandani Hospital.

He had not told his family about his visit to the hospital. However, after his biopsy report showed that he had seminoma of the testes and it had also spread to his lungs, his parents became his strongest support system. “All I wanted at that point was to be relieved of the pain. Once that subsided, the doctors dropped the bombshell about my condition. Over the next six months, I underwent a surgery and five sessions of chemotherapy. Moving around freely was obviously difficult post-surgery and I was bedridden. I had lost my hair and around 10 kg in two months. The doctors, however, told me that these were signs that I was responding to the treatment,” he says.

Dr Anand Bakshi, oncologist at Hirandani Hospital who treated Alva, said he was one of the rare cases of the condition that had come to the hospital. “When Alva came to us, he was already in stage 3, which we term as ‘intermediate risk’. Mediastinal seminoma is a developmental problem and not to be confused with lung cancer, which is primarily a lifestyle disease. However, since such tumours are highly responsive to radiation and are 90-95 per cent curable.”

Over six-seven months, Alva was back to normal. “My family was my biggest strength during that phase. I was at home for over a year. I resumed work last year and I feel just like before. The fact that the doctor kept saying that I had very high chances of being treated successfully was a mental boost,” says Alva, who works in a South Mumbai firm.

The incidence of mediastinal seminoma in the city is low, with top private hospitals reporting only two-three such cases every year. In a study conducted by Tata Memorial Hospital a few years ago, it was observed that 29 mediastinal germ cell tumours had been diagnosed at the hospital over 16 years. It also found that 80 per cent of the benign tumours were seen in women whereas the malignant tumours were reported only among men.

“The prognosis of the patients with the condition has improved radically over the past two decades, thanks to cis-platinum based chemotherapy — the protocol treatment method for the condition. Due to the advanced methods of treatment, the condition is curable even in the later stages,” said Dr Anil Heroor, onco surgeon at Fortis Hospital.

Heroor, who has treated a few patients of mediastinal seminoma, said the asymptomatic nature of the illness makes early diagnosis very difficult. “Almost all patients show vague symptoms such as dry cough and irritation of the throat. When the cough persists for long, the patients get a biopsy done and the tumour is identified,” he says.