[Two cases of giant testicular tumor with widespread extension to the spermatic cord: usefulness of upfront chemotherapy].

The first case was a 55-year-old man with biopsy-proven seminoma of the left inguinal undescended testis. The tumor, 10 x 9 x 9 cm in size, with a calculated weight of 520 g invaded the left spermatic cord up to the level of the renal hilum and metastasized to the retroperitoneal lymph nodes (13 x 10 cm). The serum level of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and beta human chorionic gonadotropin (beta-hCG) was 3,669 U/l and 1.3 ng/ml, respectively. The second case was a 38-year-old man with non-seminoma of the left testis. The testicular tumor, 32 x 28 x 28 cm in size, with a calculated weight of 7,000 g invaded the left spermatic cord up to the level of the aortic-bifurcation and metastasized to the retroperitoneal and the left supraclavicular lymph nodes. The serum level of LDH, alphafetoprotein (AFP) and beta-hCG was 2,040 U/l, 240 ng/ml and 5.6 ng/ml, respectively. Both patients were initially treated with VIP chemotherapy (etoposide, ifomide and cis-platinum), 4 cycles for the 1st case and 3 for the 2nd, and followed by high orchiectomy and retroperitoneal lymph node dissection. Histologic section of all resected specimens revealed only necrosis and fibrosis. The patients have been free of recurrence for 15 and 13 months, respectively, after the operation. In the Japanese literature, 42 cases of giant testicular tumor (> 400 g) including these two cases have been reported. To our knowledge, our second case is the largest among the non-seminomatous tumors. For giant testicular tumor with extensive invasion to the spermatic cord, initial chemotherapy followed by surgical resection appears to be a better management.