Recurrence Pattern of Metastatic Testicular Cancers after Chemotherapy

Recurrence Pattern of Metastatic Testicular Cancers after Chemotherapy

KEN-ICHI SUZUKI, SENJI HOSHI and SEIICHI ORIKASA

Department of Urology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai 980-8574

Recurrence pattern of metastatic testicular cancer after the initial treatment was investigated. Seventy-seven patients with metastatic testicular cancer were treated by cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Patients with residual masses after chemotherapy and whose tumor markers were normalized underwent surgical resections. Of the 77 patients, 61 achieved cancer free status and 4 who did not need the study criteria excluded. Recurrences were detected in 12 (21.1%) patients, 2 (7.1%) patients among 28 stage II patients; 10 (34.5%) patients among 29 stage III patients; none (0%) patients among 14 seminoma patients and 12 (27.9%) patients among 43 non-seminoma patients. All recurrences were detected within 17 months (median, 3) after the initial treatment. Of the 12 patients experiencing recurrence, 4 died of cancer. The recurrence rate of the patients in stage III was significantly higher than that in stage II. No recurrence was detected in patients with seminoma. Follow-up studies after treatment should include serum tumor markers and computed tomographic scanning of lung, abdomen and pelvis at defined intervals. Intensive follow-up will be needed especially for the patients in stage III and with non-seminoma. Follow-up within the first two years is especially important in detecting recurrence after chemotherapy.

Keywords —— testicular neoplasm; metastasis; chemotherapy; follow-up; recurrence

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2001, 194, 17-22

Address for reprints: Ken-ichi Suzuki, Department of Urology, Iwaki Kyoritsu General Hospital, 16 Kuzehara Mimaya-machi Uchigou, Iwaki 973-8555, Japan.

e-mail: suzukikj@dream.com