Testicular Cancer

TESTICULAR CANCER

The introduction of platinum-based combination chemotherapy has made an impressive change in the treatment of patients with advanced testicular cancer. Presently, chemotherapy is recom-mended for patients with stage IIC or stage III seminomas and nonseminomatous disease. Over 90% of patients respond to che-motherapy and, depending upon the extent and severity of dis-ease, complete remissions are observed in up to 70–80% of patents. Over 50% of patients achieving complete remission are cured with chemotherapy. In patients with good risk features,three cycles of cisplatin, etoposide, and bleomycin (PEB protocol) or four cycles of cisplatin and etoposide yield virtually identical results. In patients with high-risk disease, the combination of cis-platin, etoposide, and ifosfamide can be used as well as etoposide and bleomycin with high-dose cisplatin.