Prolonged survival with conventional cisplatinum/vinblastine/bleomycin therapy alone for mediastinal endodermal sinus...

Combination chemotherapy with cisplatin, vinblastine, and bleomycin (PVB) is considered to be the best treatment for disseminated non-seminomatous germ cell tumours, with a 70% long term disease-free survival rate. For one subgroup of patients, those with primary mediastinal endodermal sinus tumours, results with PVB have been disappointing and more intensive regimens with major toxicity have recently been proposed. We report a patient who, following standard PVB chemotherapy, is one of the longest reported survivors of mediastinal endodermal sinus tumours. Optimal chemotherapy for endodermal sinus tumours is yet to be determined.