Germ cell tumours of testis is the most common cancer in young men in the western world. India has the lowest incidence globally and hence Indian data is sparse. We report the outcomes of patients with non-seminomatous germ cell tumours of testis treated at a tertiary cancer centre in South India over a period of ten years.
Patients with a histopathological diagnosis of non-seminomatous germ cell tumours of testis from Jan 1, 2006 to Dec 31, 2016 were included in the study. Patient demographics, tumour characteristics and treatment details were retrieved from case records. Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate progression-free survival and overall survival. Cox regression model was used to analyse the prognostic factors.
One hundred and nineteen patients with non-seminomatous germ cell tumours of testis of testis were included in the study. The median follow-up was 81 months. The estimated four-year overall survival and progression-free survival was 87.1% and 84.5% respectively. The four-year overall survival for good, intermediate and poor-risk groups was 93.6%,87.5% and for 52.6% respectively. The progression-free survival at four years was 91.4%, 87.8% and 47.4% for good, intermediate and poor-risk groups respectively. The presence of non-pulmonary visceral metastasis and biochemical response after chemotherapy were significant factors for overall survival and progression free survival in multivariate cox proportional hazards regression.
The survival figures are comparable to the rest of the world except in the poor prognostic risk group. The inferior survival noticed in this group of patients may be due to the lack of good salvage procedures. High dose chemotherapy with stem cell support may be considered more often for this group of patients.
The authors.
Has not received any funding.
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.