[Salvage chemotherapy for patients with germ cell cancer]

Bleomycin, etoposide and platinum (BEP) therapy is used on patients with metastatic germ cell cancer but approximately 20-30% of these patients fail to achieve a durable complete response following the administration of BEP therapy. For such patients, salvage chemotherapy is subsequently considered. Although either VIP of VeIP therapy had been tended to be selected as salvage chemotherapy, recent studies have suggested two novel strategies as an alternative to conventional regimen for salvage chemotherapy. One is high-dose chemotherapy, while the other is the use of a regimen containing newly developed chemotherapeutic agents. In this study, we summarize the current status of therapeutic strategy for patients with metastatic germ cell cancer refractory to BEP therapy, and then present the experience with salvage chemotherapy at our institution.