The extent of surgery after chemotherapy for advanced germ cell tumors

The histopathological findings of tissue removed from 40 patients with a residual mass after completion of induction chemotherapy with cis-platinum, vinblastine and bleomycin are reviewed. These patients with advanced testicular cancer were treated with chemotherapy until normalization of tumor markers and until there was no further decrease in the size of palpable or radiologically evident masses for 2 successive cycles of chemotherapy. The mean number of chemotherapy cycles preoperatively was 5.2. Residual carcinoma was found in only 1 patient (3 per cent), teratoma in 18 (45 per cent), and fibrotic and/or necrotic masses in 21 (52 per cent). With this tailored treatment regimen in which an operation is performed after maximal chemotherapeutic response, the number of patients with viable residual tumor at operation can be minimized. Complete retroperitoneal lymph node dissection concomitant with resection of the residual mass was performed in 22 of 32 patients with residual masses in the retroperitoneum. The 1 patient with carcinoma in the mass also had carcinoma in several of the lymph nodes, and 4 of the 11 with teratoma in the mass had teratoma in the lymph nodes. Since the histopathological findings of the mass often parallel those of the lymph nodes, and since masses containing only fibrosis and/or necrosis cannot be ascertained with accuracy at operation, a complete retroperitoneal lymph node dissection is recommended in patients with a residual retroperitoneal mass.