High dose chemotherapy as salvage treatment for unresectable late relapse germ cell tumors.

Purpose: We assessed the activity of high dose chemotherapy in patients with unresectable late relapse germ cell tumors.Materials and Methods: A total of 35 patients with late relapse were included in a group of 216 treated with high dose chemotherapy as first or subsequent salvage treatment in a prospective, randomized, multicenter phase III trial comparing single vs sequential high dose chemotherapy. Late relapse was defined as unequivocal evidence of relapse more than 2 years after completion of cisplatin based chemotherapy. All patients were considered to have unresectable, progressive, late relapse germ cell tumors. Responders were scheduled for surgical resection of all residual lesions when technically feasible.Results: We identified 4 late relapse groups, including late relapse in 20 of 35 patients (57%) after first line treatment (group 1), in 4 (11%) after first salvage treatment (group 2), in 4 (11%) after initial and after first salvage treatment (group 3), and in 7 (20%) after first line trea...