Surgical resection of solitary metastases after chemotherapy in patients with nonseminomatous germ cell tumors and elevated serum tumor markers

Background. Chemorefractory metastatic germ cell tumors and elevated tumor markers generally indicate inoperable disease. Methods. Solitary metastases were resected in 15 patients who had a nonseminomatous germ cell tumor and an elevated alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP) and/or human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) serum level after treatment with cisplatin‐based chemotherapy. Patients underwent resection for a residual mass after chemotherapy or for a new solitary metastasis after achieving a complete response (CR) to salvage chemotherapy. Results. Seven patients were disease‐free after surgical resection alone. All five patients with an elevated HCG level had a relapse after surgery compared with 3 of 10 patients with only an elevated AFP level. Only 4 of 10 patients with a retroperitoneal metastasis had a relapse after surgery compared with 4 of 5 patients with visceral disease. Eleven of 15 patients overall were disease‐free after surgery and subsequent chemotherapy after a relapse. Conclusions. Surgical resection of a solitary metastasis despite elevated serum tumor markers should be considered in patients who have not had a durable CR to cisplatin‐based chemotherapy. Cancer 1992; 702354‐2357.