[Testicular tumors. Mortality and recurrence after inadequate therapy]

From 1983 to 1994, 293 patients with testicular germ cell tumors were treated at the Department of Urology, Bonn University, Germany. 252 patients (86%) were available for follow-up studies. 17/252 (6.8%) of patients died of disease, 41/252 (16%) had a tumor recurrence after complete remission. 20/41 (49%) patients with recurrence, who mainly had been referred for further treatment, had been treated inadequately. Inadequate treatment consisted of surgical failures after orchiectomy, incomplete retroperitoneal lymph node dissection after chemotherapy, delay of treatment, and inadequate chemotherapy. 80% of recurrences were found within the first two years after treatment, late relapses were found in 3.6%. Early recurrences were mainly pulmonary, late recurrences mostly occurred in the retroperitoneum or atypical. 20% of all recurrences were local recurrences.