Neurotoxicity Among Survivors of Testicular Cancer: A Population-based Study.

AIMS

Neurotoxicity may affect the quality of life of survivors of testicular cancer. Understanding the burden of neurotoxicity is important to guide survivorship care. A population-based study was undertaken to describe the proportion of patients in the 'real world' with neurotoxicity.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A population-based, retrospective, cohort study of patients with advanced testicular cancer treated in the province of Ontario. The Ontario Cancer Registry was linked to electronic treatment records to identify all incident cases of testicular cancer during 2000-2010. Administrative databases were used to describe health system visits for symptoms potentially related to neurotoxicity. Health system visit rates were explored by number of chemotherapy cycles among patients treated during 2005-2010 for whom complete chemotherapy details were available.

RESULTS

During 2000-2010, 2650 patients underwent an orchiectomy for testicular cancer; 920 (33%) also received chemotherapy. The proportion of patients with health system visits for neurotoxicity in the 2 years before surgery compared with the 2 years after surgery remained stable among patients treated with orchiectomy alone (18% [303/1730] versus 18% [316/1730], P = 0.523); however, there was a substantial increase among patients treated with chemotherapy (16% [151/920] versus 25% [231/920], P < 0.001). Among patients treated with chemotherapy in 2005-2010 for whom complete details were available regarding number of treatment cycles there was a dose-response effect. The increase in health system visits for neurotoxicity from 2 years before compared with 2 years after orchiectomy was greater among patients treated with four cycles of chemotherapy (17% [21/121] versus 37% [45/121]) and three cycles of chemotherapy (17% [45/258] versus 28% [72/258]) compared with those treated with one to two cycles of chemotherapy (<13% [<6/45] versus 20% [9/45], P = 0.013).

CONCLUSIONS

This population-based study suggests that symptoms of neurotoxicity are common among survivors of testicular cancer and that this seems to be driven by increasing exposure to chemotherapy. Clinicians should carefully evaluate patients for neurotoxicity during the survivorship phase of treatment.