Paclitaxel-based high-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell rescue for relapsed germ cell tumor: clinical outcome and quality of life in long-term survivors.

BACKGROUND: High-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) is a viable and potentially curative approach for patients with relapsed or refractory germ cell tumors (GCTs). However, no comparative data exist to define the optimal chemotherapeutic strategy, and little is known about the quality of life (QOL) of long-term survivors. Herein we attempt to characterize the QOL in long-term survivors who received high-dose paclitaxel, etoposide, carboplatin, and ifosfamide (TECTIC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Details of the TECTIC regimen and clinical outcomes for the initial 33 patients have been reported. In the present study, we report the clinical data for 15 additional patients. Using the European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (QLQ-C30) and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Taxane (FACT-T) questionnaires, we surveyed all patients who survived at least 4 years after HDCT.
RESULTS: Forty-eight patients were enrolled and 46 patients received protocol therapy. For all 48 patients, the median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 11.8 months (range, 5.8-not reached) and 21.7 months (range, 12.7-not reached), respectively. Seventeen patients were progression free at a median of 123.2 months (51.6-170.2 months), and 6 patients remain alive after progression with a median OS of 68.8 months (47.6-147.1 months). Of the 23 surviving patients, 18 were accessible and consented to telephone interviews. Compared with historical cohorts, survivors had a higher global health scale score (87.04 vs. 75.62; P = .02) but a lower physical functioning score (68.89 vs. 92.66; P = .0001) by the QLQ-C30 scale.
CONCLUSIONS: HDCT with the TECTIC regimen produces durable remissions in patients with relapsed or refractory GCTs with acceptable QOL in long-term survivors.