[Combination chemotherapy with bleomycin, vincristine and methotrexate for stage I non-seminomatous germ cell testicular tumors].

Ten patients with Stage I non-seminomatous germ cell testicular tumors underwent orchiectomy and combination chemotherapy with bleomycin, vincristine and methotrexate with CF rescue (BOM) as an induction therapy followed by cyclophosphamide, vincristine and methotrexate as a maintenance therapy (COM). The results were as follows: BOM seemed to be effective as a further treatment for Stage I non-seminomatous germ cell testicular tumor patients. All 10 patients are alive and disease-free for a period from 1 year and 6 months to 5 years and 3 months (mean: 3 years and 9 months). The chemotherapy should be continued at least for a year, since relapse occurred in 2 of 4 patients who received only induction therapy. However, they completely responded to other chemotherapy regimens (BVP and BOAM ). BOM and COM therapy were scarcely toxic and no serious side effects were recognized. From the above results, it was considered that combination chemotherapy (BOM and COM) can be an alternative treatment to the conventional retroperitoneal node dissection and radiation therapy for Stage I non-seminomatous germ cell tumors.