Staging, treatment, and results in testicular seminoma. A 12-year report

Sixty-one patients with histologically confirmed seminoma of the testis were treated by radiotherapy at The Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1975 to 1987. Fifty-seven patients remain disease-free, three patients died of intercurrent disease, and one patient (Stage IIB) died of widespread seminoma. Median follow-up for these patients is 5.5 years. Using a modified M.D. Anderson Hospital clinical staging system, 42 (69%) were Stage I, 16 (26%) were Stage IIA, and three (5%) were Stage IIB. Radiologic staging included both lymphangiogram (LAG) and abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan. Among Stage I disease, nine patients had false-positive CT scans, determined by negative LAG. Six patients had false-negative CT scans and were upstaged to Stage IIA by LAG. Treatment portals were altered in 15 of the 39 patients (38%) who had both LAG and CT scan. Overall actuarial survival (Kaplan-Meier method) was 97% at 5 years and 92% at 10 years. Five-year survival corrected for intercurrent disease was 100% for Stage I, 100% for Stage IIA, and two of three in Stage IIB patients. There were two distant treatment failures among the entire cohort. One patient who had Stage I disease was salvaged with local-field radiation and chemotherapy and is now without evidence of disease for 6 years. The second patient with Stage IIB seminoma receiving the same treatments disseminated and died. There were no significant acute toxicities or serious complications. In summary, proper staging with information gained from LAG and adequate radiation dose led to a 92% 10-year disease-free survival.