Cisplatin-based chemotherapy followed by surgery for malignant nonseminomatous germ cell tumor of mediastinum: one institution's experience.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of cisplatin-based chemotherapy followed by surgery for patients with a malignant nonseminomatous germ cell tumor (NSGCT) of the mediastinum.

Methods: Ten patients with malignant NSGCTs received cisplatin-based induction chemotherapy and then underwent surgery. The clinicopathological characteristics of these 10 patients were examined retrospectively.

Results: A partial response to induction chemotherapy was noted in eight patients and no response in two. The induction chemotherapy was tolerated well by all the patients. Each patient underwent complete surgical resection of the residual tumor following chemotherapy. A yolk sac tumor was detected in one patient and malignant teratoma along with a yolk sac tumor in one patient postoperatively. The overall survival of the 10 patients was 67% at 60 months of follow-up. The survival rate at 60 months was poorer for the patients whose resected specimens exhibited the presence of viable cells than for those whose specimens were free of viable cells.

Conclusion: Postchemotherapy surgical resection of the residual tumor plays an integral role in the management of patients with NSGCT. The presence of viable tumor cells in the resected specimens is associated with poor survival.