Late-effects after treatment for germ-cell cancer with cisplatin, vinblastine, and bleomycin

During a 5-year period from 1979 to 1983 all patients in Denmark with metastatic non-seminomatous and extragonadal germ cell cancer were treated with 6 cycles of cisplatin, vinblastine, and bleomycin (PVB). Thirty-nine patients referred to the Finsen Institute accepted a follow-up examination of side-effects 3.5-9 years after chemotherapy. Renal toxicity consisted of an irreversible decrease in glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in 47% of the patients, while the decrease in GFR was fully reversible in 23%. Significant pulmonary toxicity was observed in smokers and consisted of an irreversible decrease in carbon monoxide diffusion capacity to median 72% of the predicted value. Neurotoxicity was the most pronounced long-term side-effect. Nearly all patients had a peripheral sensory neuropathy probably caused by axonal degeneration. A central conduction defect was observed in 88% of the patients by measuring auditory brain-stem potentials. Irreversible high-frequency hearing loss was induced in 39% of the patients. Parasympathetic nerve dysfunction was found in 36% of the examined patients, including 2 patients with impotence. Half of the patients revealed Raynaud's phenomenon (RP), and the mechanism underlying this side-effect was found to be hyperreactivity of the central sympathetic nervous system. Vascular toxicity was found only in terminal arterioles and was not responsible for RP. PVB treatment caused low sperm counts and a subclinical Leydig cell dysfunction in the majority of patients. Azoospermia was observed in 27% of the patients. Six patients had hypertension and this was not related to renal impairment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)