[Chemotherapy-resistant germ cell cancer of the testis treated by salvage surgery: a case report].

A 38-year-old patient who had a non-seminomatous testicular cancer was treated by resection of the retroperitoneal metastatic mass that had proven refractory to bleomycin, etoposide and cisplatin (BEP) and paclitaxel, ifosfamide and cisplatin (TIP) chemotherapies. Although salvage chemotherapy was given against the chemorefractory metastatic lesions in the retroperitoneum, the serum alpha-fetoprotein level elevated to 3,252 ng/ml. Retroperitoneal lymph node dissection was performed, and viable cells were identified histopathologically in the resected tissues. The serum AFP level normalized after surgery. No recurrence has been observed for 22 months postoperatively. This experience indicates that salvage surgery even under high serum marker levels may have a beneficial outcome for selected cases of chemotherapy-resistant germ cell tumors.