Results of treatment of non seminomatous germ cell tumours; 122 consecutive cases in the West of Scotland, 1981-1985.

Between January 1981 and December 1985, 122 patients with non-seminomatous germ cell tumours (NSGT) were seen at a regional referral centre. Of these, a total of 98 patients received chemotherapy for metastatic disease. Treatment was given within collaborative EORTC Urology group studies, all of which involved cis-platin-containing schedules. Ninety patients had tumours of testicular origin, and their 2 year actuarial survival rate is 91%; 8 had tumours of extragonadal origin and their 2 year actuarial survival is 25%. Patients with testicular tumours were subdivided by volume of metastatic disease using the recommendations of the Testicular Cancer Subgroup of the MRC Urological Cancer Working Party and survival was significantly worse in the group with very large volume metastatic disease (VLVM, 57%) compared with the groups with large volume metastases (LVM, 100%) and small volume metastases (SVM, 98%). There were 31 patients with Stage I disease at presentation; of these 6 were treated by prophylactic abdominal radiotherapy and 25 were managed by a policy of surveillance only. Seven of these Stage I patients (23%) relapsed with metastatic disease (median 8 months); all have been successfully treated with chemotherapy. These data confirm that the majority of patients now presenting with metastatic NSGCT are curable with chemotherapy, but that a small proportion with very large volume metastases or extragonadal tumours require alternative chemotherapy schedules.