Abstract
In the United States, there are about 8,500 new cases of germ cell tumors in men over 18 years old. Germ cell cancers are the leading cause of cancer in young men, and advances in treatment over the last 40 years have resulted in cure rates exceeding 95 % in centers of excellence and in populations with centralized management of germ cell tumors.
There have been major paradigm shifts in the management of germ cell tumors based on the availability of brief, well-tolerated, outpatient chemotherapy. The availability of a superbly effective and well-tolerated chemotherapy safety net has allowed for the development of active surveillance strategies for the growing percentage of patients presenting with clinical stage I disease as well as sharp decline of regional strategies such as primary retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy (RPLND) for nonseminoma or regional radiation for seminoma.
Herein, we will review the development of the evidence base for current chemotherapy-based management of germ cell tumors including risk assignment, duration of therapy, post-chemotherapy management and follow-up, and survivorship planning.
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Nichols, C.R., Porter, C., Kollmannsberger, C. (2014). Management of Disseminated Germ Cell Tumor in Adults. In: Frazier, A., Amatruda, J. (eds) Pediatric Germ Cell Tumors. Pediatric Oncology, vol 1. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38971-9_5
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