Treatment of disseminated non-seminomatous testicular cancer: the European experience.
The majority of patients with disseminated germ cell cancer can be cured with cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy. For more than a decade the gold standard regimen is cisplatin, etoposide, and bleomycin (BEP). On both sides of the Atlantic, a number of studies have been carried out to either modify the toxicity of therapy in good prognosis patients or to improve the treatment outcome by intensifying the regimen or incorporating new agents in patients with intermediate or poor prognosis disease. This review discusses the trials that have been conducted in Europe, mainly through the European Organization of Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and Medical Research Council (MRC) in the United Kingdom, as well as the studies that are currently being conducted by the collaborative groups in Europe.
de Wit
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Rotterdam Cancer Institute and University Hospital Rotterdam, The Netherlands. witte@onch.azr.nl
D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005060:Europe; D018237:Germinoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000556:secondary; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015996:Survival Rate; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome