[A multi-disciplinary approach to the treatment of germ cell tumors]

The management of patients with germ cell tumors must be based upon complete staging and should be risk-adapted. Seminoma stage I can be managed by either active surveillance, adjuvant carboplatin therapy, or radiotherapy. Seminoma stage IIA should receive radiotherapy, stage IIB can be managed with either radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Seminoma stage IIC and III are treated with three (to four) cycles of PEB (cisplatin, etoposide, bleomycin). Nonseminoma stage I should be managed by either active surveillance or adjuvant chemotherapy with one (to two) cycles of PEB, based upon the risk factor vascular invasion. Treatment of advanced nonseminoma consists of either 3 or 4 cycles of PEB and must be guided by the IGCCCG prognostic subgroup. Prognosis is particularly poor in patients with either primary mediastinal nonseminoma, and/or metastases to liver, brain or bone, or inadequate tumor marker decline. In these cases, intensification of therapy with high dose chemotherapy can be justified. Complex cases with poor prognosis and all patients with relapsed disease should exclusively be treated by experts in a tertiary care setting to achieve highest possible cure rates in these young patients.