Localization, incidence, diagnosis and treatment of extratesticular germ cell tumors.

On the basis of a literature search yielding 243 case histories, the rare extratesticular germ cell tumor is surveyed with respect to incidence, primary localization, histology and treatment. In this context, we report on 6 patients with negative results on clinical examination of the testes (palpation, scrotal ultrasonography). We briefly discuss a suitable method of diagnosing occult and burnt-out tumors. Polychemotherapy (vinblastine, bleomycin, cis-platinum) has been found to be very effective. The resulting high rates of remission thus lead to an improvement of overall prognosis.