Salvage therapy in recurrent germ cell cancer.

Testicular cancer is an important malignancy, not only because it has high curative potential with surgical resection (in local disease) and chemotherapy (in metastatic disease), but also because it serves as a pre-eminent example of the successful linkage between preclinical and clinical research experience. Improvements in salvage therapy have resulted in important advances in first-line therapy in germ cell cancer. Testicular cancer remains one of the few solid tumors in which a curative approach may be taken in patients who are not cured with initial induction chemotherapy. Furthermore, it remains as a fertile testing ground for future drug development and other innovative treatment approaches.