Histological patterns of treatment failures in testicular neoplasms

We reviewed 77 consecutive autopsies performed between 1965 and 1982 on patients who had been treated for germ cell tumors of the testis at our institute. Identifiable germ cell tumor was present at autopsy in 64 cases. On review, a single pattern was seen at autopsy in the majority of the cases (69.7 per cent) compared to the primary tumors, in which single patterns were seen in only 45 per cent. The occurrence of yolk sac tumor as the sole element in 6 of 29 autopsy specimens of nonseminomatous tumors after the introduction of the current standard 3-drug therapy and only once in 32 autopsies before 1976 appears significant. A possible explanation for this finding is that the yolk sac element was obscured by more aggressive and rapidly growing varieties of tumor in the earlier years but proved less responsive to chemotherapy.