Prognostic factors of metastatic testicular non-seminomatous germ cell tumors after chemotherapy

Abstract Background We evaluated the prognostic factors of metastatic testicular non-seminomatous germ cell tumor (NSGCT) after chemotherapy. Materials and methods Data from 20 metastatic testicular NSGCT patients were retrospectively collected between January 2002 and December 2015. The evaluation of prognostic factors included age, pulmonary metastasis, cancer stage, International Germ Cell Cancer Collaborative Group (IGCCCG) classification, and histology. Results Twelve (60%) and eight (40%) patients had stage 2 and 3 disease, respectively. Good, intermediate, and poor prognoses were ten, six, and four patients, respectively. Eight patients (40%) were aged above 30 years at detection of testicular; cancer, and seven patients (35%) had pulmonary metastases. Sixteen patients had mixed germ cell tumors (MGCTs) only, Four were unfavorable histology (two MGCTs with choriocarcinoma-predominant, one pure choriocarcinoma and MGCTs with embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma transformation). Thirteen patients (65%) showed no evidence of disease (NED), and 7 patients (35%) that did not survive post therapy. Pulmonary metastases (P = 0.02), unfavorable histology (P = 0.007) were found to be prognostic factors of NED in patients with metastatic testicular NSGCTs. Age (P = 0.06) and stage (P = 0.06) showed considerable trend of significance. But risk group of IGCCCG exhibited no significant difference (P = 1). Conclusion The presence of pulmonary metastases, and unfavorable histology but not GCCCG classification were associated with poor prognosis in in patients with metastatic testicular NSGCTs. Prognostic reclassification for IGCCCG groups is suggested from our study.