[Nonseminomatous testicular tumors. Diagnostic strategy. Apropos of 53 cases]

The authors define a diagnostic strategy designed to establish the most reliable clinical staging on the basis of a series of 53 cases non-seminomatous testicular tumours. The value of each complementary laboratory and radiological examination is analysed in terms of its performance and its morbidity and a selective staging procedure is proposed. Finally, the role of retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy is discussed, as it appears that, with the development of chemotherapeutic protocols, this procedure will gradually disappear from the staging of early tumours to become an essentially therapeutic procedure. However, lymphadenectomy is still part of the authors' current staging protocol for clinical stage I tumours as it remains the only way to define the extension of the tumour with certainty.