[The salvage chemotherapy for refractory testicular cancer with novel anticancer agents]

Despite the generally high cure rate in patients with metastatic testicular cancer, 20% to 30% of treated patients will become candidates for salvage chemotherapy. We reviewed the recent salvage chemotherapy trials of refractory diseases. CPT-11 is a new derivative of camptothecin and has activity in a variety of solid tumors. We evaluated the antitumor effect of combination chemotherapy using CDDP and CPT-11 against refractory testicular cancer. Fourteen patients who failed to achieve complete remission with salvage chemotherapy were treated with combination chemotherapy with CPT-11 and CDDP or 254-S (nedaplatin) as third line chemotherapy. Six patients remain alive and disease-free and 5 patients died of disease. The combination of CPT-11 and either CDDP or nedaplatin was significantly more effective than other salvage therapy regimens such as VIP. Paclitaxel, ifosfamide, etoposide regimens were also effective in patients with refractory testicular tumors. We concluded that these combination regimens demonstrated significant activity against refractory testicular tumor and further investigation is warranted.