Initial Salvage Therapy for Patients with Advanced Germ Cell Tumors: Do We Need a Randomized Trial?

摘要

Although advanced germ cell tumors (GCT) are considered the prototypical model of a chemotherapy-sensitive malignancy, up to 30% of patients with advanced disease will not be cured with first-line chemotherapy, comprised of etoposide plus cisplatin with or without bleomycin. A proportion of these patients remain curable with additional systemic treatment, referred to as "salvage chemotherapy." Salvage chemotherapy can be broadly separated into two categories: conventional-dose chemotherapy (CDCT) and high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) with autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT).