Cyclic chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and cisplatin plus vinblastine and bleomycin in advanced germinal tumors. Results with 100 patients

Abstract

One hundred patients with advanced mixed germ-cell tumors were treated with cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, and doxorubicin alternating with vinblastine and bleomycin (cyclic CISCA II/VB IV). The chemotherapy achieved an 89 percent continuous disease-free status (85 percent with chemotherapy, 4 percent with chemotherapy plus surgery). The mean follow-up duration for patients with continuous complete remission was 132 weeks (±6.2), with a median of 126 weeks. Multivariate analysis using a stepwise logistic regression of prognostic variables revealed that a high serum level of the beta subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (more than 50,000 mIU/ml) was of prognostic significance, followed by the Samuels staging criteria and extragonadal origin of disease. Thirty-two patients underwent exploratory surgery after they had had two courses of chemotherapy beyond the establishment of a stable mass and absent serum biomarkers. No viable cancer was found at exploration, and all patients remain alive and free of disease. The acute toxicity of the cyclic chemotherapy was formidable, but only one patient had a fatal complication. Thirty-six percent of the CISCA II courses and 44 percent of the VB IV courses were associated with leukopenic fever, and 5 percent of the CISCA II courses and 8 percent of the VB IV courses were associated with culture-positive infection. Long-term toxicity was unusual: bleomycin lung toxicity 1 percent, cardiac toxicity 1 percent. CISCA II/VB IV cyclic chemotherapy is superior to cisplatin, vinblastine, and bleomycin (PVB) chemotherapy; it results in a higher complete remission rate, a lower relapse rate, and a lower incidence of long-term complications. Patients with a high risk of failure of PVB chemotherapy (Samuels stage IIIB 3 to IIIB 5) or with extragonadal tumors should be treated with CISCA II/VB IV.