Salvage Treatment for Extragonadal Germ Cell Tumours: High-Dose Chemotherapy and Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation Outcomes—A Single-Centre Experience

• Published in: Journal of clinical medicine Vol. 13; no. 21; p. 6494
• Main Authors: Topal, Alper, Erturk, Ismail, Koseoglu, Caglar, Dumludag, Aysegul, Kuzu, Ömer Faruk, Karadurmus, Berkan, Kaplan Tuzun, Esmanur, Atacan, Huseyin, Mammadzada, Nurlan, Yildirim, Gizem, Acar, Ramazan, Karadurmus, Nuri
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 29-10-2024; MDPI
• Subjects: Analysis; Blood platelets; Cancer; Cancer therapies; Care and treatment; Chemotherapy; Classification; Germ cell tumors; Health aspects; Histology; Medical prognosis; Medical records; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Neutropenia; Neutrophils; Patient outcomes; Patients; Prognosis; Serology; Stem cell transplantation; Stem cells; Testicular cancer; Tomography; Transplantation; Tumors; Turkey
• ISSN: 2077-0383; 2077-0383
• DOI: 10.3390/jcm13216494

Objective: Extragonadal germ cell tumours have a more unfavourable prognosis than gonadal germ cell tumours. We aimed to evaluate the survival analysis, response rates, and factors affecting responses to high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in patients with relapsed/refractory extragonadal germ cell tumours. Methods: This study included patients diagnosed with extragonadal germ cell tumours who underwent HDCT + ASCT between November 2016 and January 2023 at Gülhane Training and Research Hospital. Clinical characteristics and follow-up data from patient records and the hospital’s electronic system were retrospectively analysed. Patients under 18 years of age and those without medical records were excluded. Patient characteristics, post-HDCT progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) data, and factors affecting survival were examined. The relationship between clinical factors and OS/PFS was analysed. Results: Twenty-five patients were included in this study. Complete response (CR) was observed in seven patients (28%), partial response (PR) was observed in nine patients (36%), stable disease (SD) was observed in one patient, and progressive disease (PD) was observed in eight patients (32%) after HDCT + ASCT. The median follow-up period was 25.4 months. The median PFS and OS after HDCT + ASCT were calculated as 6.1 months and 12.2 months, respectively. Conclusions: Salvage HDCT + ASCT is an option in the treatment of extragonadal germ cell tumours, offering the potential for prolonged survival and curing.