Prognosis in patients with metastatic non-seminomatous testicular cancer.

155 patients with metastatic non-seminomatous testicular cancer were treated with cisplatin-based chemotherapy which in most cases was combined with surgery. The 5 year crude survival was 90% for all patients (98 patients with small volume disease: 97%; 32 patients with large volume disease: 91%; 25 patients with very large volume disease: 64%). High pre-chemotherapy serum tumour marker levels (AFP greater than 500 micrograms/l; and/or HCG greater than 1000 U/l) decreased the survival rates in all groups. Only 4 of 17 relapsing patients were rendered tumour-free by salvage chemotherapy. In a multivariate analysis, a pre-chemotherapy alpha-foetoprotein (AFP) level greater than 500 micrograms/l was associated with poor survival as was the presence of a retroperitoneal tumour greater than 10 cm, lung metastases greater than 3 cm and/or extrapulmonary hematogenous metastases. It is concluded that easily assessable clinical pre-treatment variables can be used to define high risk or low risk patients with metastatic testicular cancer. Treatment intensity should be adjusted in accordance to such prognostic factors.