Follow-up Of Testicular Cancer Patients Research Articles

Comparison between CT and MRI in detection of metastasis of the retroperitoneum in testicular germ cell tumors: a prospective trial

Introduction: To minimize the radiation exposure of mostly young testicular cancer patients, it is essential to find out whether CT could be replaced by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the staging and follow-up of the patients. In this trial, we examined whether abdominal MRI is as effective as computed tomography (CT) in the detection of retroperitoneal metastases of testicular cancer.Material and methods: This prospective study included 50 patients, 46 cases of retroperitoneal metastases and 4 controls without abdominal metastases (mean age 33, 5 years, range 20–65 years). Imaging of the retroperitoneum was performed using CT and 1.5 T MRI with diffusion weighted imaging (DWI). One experienced radiologist re-analyzed all of the examinations without knowledge of clinical information. All metastatic or suspicious lymph nodes were noted and measured two-dimensionally from axial images. Nodal detection and the size of detected nodes on CT and MRI were compared.Results: There was no significant difference in the detection of retroperitoneal metastasis between CT and MRI. The sensitivity of MRI was 0.98. There was no statistically significant difference in the sizes of lymph nodes found in CT and MRI, and even very small lymph nodes could be detected in MRI as well as in CT.Conclusion: MRI with DWI is as good as CT in detection of retroperitoneal lymph node metastases regardless of lymph node size, and it can be used as part of follow-up of testicular cancer patients instead of ionizing radiation producing imaging methods.

Safety and usefulness of patient-centered shared survivorship care after chemotherapy for testicular cancer.

4561 Background: Testicular cancer (TC) survivors are at risk to develop early cardiovascular morbidity. Close collaboration between oncologists and primary care physicians (PCPs) is mandatory for optimal cardiovascular risk management. We designed a simple shared survivorship care program in which TC patients regularly visit their PCP instead of their oncologist. The primary aim of this study was to test safety and feasibility of shared-care follow-up after chemotherapy for metastatic TC. Methods: TC patients with complete remission after chemotherapy and age ≥18 years were eligible. Participants received a personalized survivorship care plan with scheduled visits to the oncologist and PCP, which was available both on paper and as a mobile application. During PCP visits, signals indicating cancer recurrence, cardiovascular risk and psychosocial issues were assessed. Safety boundaries were defined for the occurrence of failed response to signals indicating cancer recurrence. Patient data were monitored real-time to check if the shared-care follow-up was carried out within these boundaries. Secondary outcomes were satisfaction among TC patients and PCPs, measured with an evaluation questionnaire, and anxiety levels, measured with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Results: 64% of eligible TC patients and 99% of the approached PCPs were willing to participate; 162 patients were enrolled in the shared-care program and 241 primary care visits took place. No failures occurred in the detection of relapsed TC. Therefore, the safety boundary was crossed, indicating that shared-care follow-up is a safe alternative to hospital-only follow-up. Four primary care visits were deemed as failed visits because of logistic issues.Anxiety levels did not increase during shared-care follow-up (3.6 vs 3.3 (p = 0.38). Patients were satisfied with the knowledge of PCPs and appreciated this regular contact. 78% of the PCPs would like to extend their role in shared-care follow-up. Conclusions: This easy to use shared survivorship care program is safe and feasible in the follow-up of TC patients. Communication within this patient-centered follow-up program may be further supported with e-health tools. Clinical trial information: NCT01783145.

Whole body MRI, including diffusion-weighted imaging in follow-up of patients with testicular cancer

Background. Whole body (WB) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), including diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) has become increasingly utilized in cancer imaging, yet the clinical utility of these techniques in follow-up of testicular cancer patients has not been evaluated. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of WB MRI with continuous table movement (CTM) technique, including multistep DWI in follow-up of patients with testicular cancer.Patients and methods. WB MRI including DWI was performed in follow-up of 71 consecutive patients (median age, 37 years; range 19–84) with histologically confirmed testicular cancer. WB MRI protocol included axial T1-Dixon and T2-BLADE sequences using CTM technique. Furthermore, multi-step DWI was performed using b-value 50 and 1000 s/mm2. One criterion for feasibility was patient tolerance and satisfactory image quality. Another criterion was the accuracy in detection of any pathological mass, compared to standard of reference. Signal intensity in DWI was used for evaluation of residual mass activity. Clinical, laboratory and imaging follow-up were applied as standard of reference for the evaluation of WB MRI. Results. WB MRI was tolerated in nearly all patients (69/71 patients, 97%) and the image quality was satisfactory. Metal artifacts deteriorated the image quality in six patients, but it did not influence the overall results. No case of clinical relapse was observed during the follow-up time. There was a good agreement between conventional WB MRI and standard of reference in all patients. Three patients showed residual masses and DWI signal was not restricted in these patients. Furthermore, DWI showed abnormally high signal intensity in a normal-sized retroperitoneal lymph node indicating metastasis. The subsequent 18F-FDG PET/CT could verify the finding.Conclusion. WB MRI with CTM technique including multi-step DWI is feasible in follow-up of patients with testicular cancer. DWI may contribute to important added-value data to conventional MRI sequences regarding the activity of residual masses.

Interdisciplinary Evidence-Based Recommendations for the Follow-Up of Testicular Germ Cell Cancer Patients

Over the last years, clear treatment recommendations for patients with testicular cancer have been published. This has led to significant improvements in outcome and survival. Moreover, active surveillance has become a cornerstone in the management of clinical stage I seminomatous and non-seminomatous germ cell tumors. On the other hand, the existing recommendations for the follow-up of testis cancer patients are unclear and differ widely. Follow-up recommendations in this young patient population have to be as evidence based as possible, feasible in order to ensure adherence, and must not be harmful. Therefore, attention has to be paid to the negative impact of unnecessary radiation exposure. Recently, new evidence became available regarding the relapse pattern of different disease stages of testicular cancer, the use of imaging at follow-up, and the risks of excessive radiation due to imaging, and in particular that of computed tomography (CT) scans. This article summarizes the recommendations for follow-up of testicular cancer patients of an interdisciplinary multinational working group consisting of urologists, medical oncologists, and radiation oncologists.

Interdisciplinary evidence-based recommendations for the follow-up of testicular cancer patients: a joint effort.

Detailed recommendations for the treatment of testicular cancer exist and due to the stringent application of the standard therapies, most patients can nowadays be cured. Moreover in the treatment of early stage disease, active surveillance is now a cornerstone of treatment. Hence there is a clear need for recommendations regarding the long term follow-up of these young patients. These have to be safe, feasible and the intensity of procedures have to reflect the known risk of recurrence. Different proposals have been published but they differ widely especially in terms of frequency and modality of imaging. In the last few years, new evidence has become available regarding the relapse pattern of different disease stages of testicular cancer, the use of imaging in follow-up and the risks of excessive radiation due to imaging, in particular with CT scans. In this article, an interdisciplinary, multinational working group has reviewed the evidence and based on this has formulated practical recommendations for the follow-up of patients with testicular cancer.

Interdisciplinary evidence-based recommendations for the follow-up of testicular cancer patients: a joint effort.

Detailed recommendations for the treatment of testicular cancer exist and due to the stringent application of the standard therapies, most patients can nowadays be cured. Moreover in the treatment of early stage disease, active surveillance is now a cornerstone of treatment. Hence there is a clear need for recommendations regarding the long term follow-up of these young patients. These have to be safe, feasible and the intensity of procedures have to reflect the known risk of recurrence. Different proposals have been published but they differ widely especially in terms of frequency and modality of imaging. In the last few years, new evidence has become available regarding the relapse pattern of different disease stages of testicular cancer, the use of imaging in follow-up and the risks of excessive radiation due to imaging, in particular with CT scans. In this article, an interdisciplinary, multinational working group has reviewed the evidence and based on this has formulated practical recommendations for the follow-up of patients with testicular cancer.

Long-term follow-up of testicular cancer patients shows no predisposition to osteoporosis

Most patients with testis cancer are cured with treatment. However, the incidence of osteoporosis after prolonged follow-up is unknown. This study investigates the incidence of osteoporosis in 39 testis cancer patients with follow-up from 5 to 28 years. There was no increased incidence of osteoporosis. These initial data are reassuring but require further investigation. The majority of patients with testis cancer are cured with either a unilateral orchidectomy alone or orchidectomy and chemotherapy. However, the long-term incidence of osteoporosis following treatment for testicular cancer has not been established. This was a single-centre cross-sectional study, where bone mineral density (BMD) measurements were performed in male patients who were previously treated for testicular cancer. BMD measurements were made by dual-energy X-ray scanning (DXA) using a HOLOGIC imaging bone densitometer. The World Health Organisation criteria were used to define osteoporosis and osteopenia. Blood samples were taken from each patient at the time of the DXA scan. Statistical analyses were performed in STATA10. Neither orchidectomy alone nor orchidectomy and chemotherapy together predisposed to osteoporosis [p value = 0.4 (95%CI -0.1-0.8) and p value = 0.2 (95%CI -0.2-0.7), respectively]. Analysis also showed no evidence of an association between cases of osteopenia and length of follow-up (assessed by logistic regression). This work found no association between treatment for testis cancer and the development of osteoporosis. Screening the whole population of testis cancer survivors for osteoporosis in the long term is not necessary; however, targeting specific patients with risk factors may be warranted.

Increased incidence of sarcoma in patients treated for testicular seminoma.

In a nationwide cancer registry analysis of second primary malignancies in 6187 men with testicular cancer in the period 1943-1987, 13 sarcomas were found, yielding a 4-fold increase of the relative risk (RR). The majority of sarcomas occurred in men with seminoma, and the increased incidence was seen irrespectively of time since the diagnosis of testicular cancer. The interval between the testicular cancer and the sarcoma varied from 5-34 years. After investigation of the hospital records and re-examination of the histological specimens, 3 patients were excluded. In spite of this, the RR was still considerably increased (at least 3-fold). Seven of the 10 sarcomas were found to be located within the field of the radiation treatment administered and three at the periphery. The absolute number of these secondary sarcomas is low, but the risk of developing such neoplasms and other malignancies should, even so, be kept in mind in the follow-up of testicular cancer patients.

Bilateral Testicular Germ Cell Tumors: A Report of 20 Cases

Of 412 patients with unilateral testicular cancer 20 (4.3 per cent) suffered a second primary germ cell tumor: 1 had a simultaneous bilateral tumor and in the remaining 19 the second tumor was diagnosed after an interval of 2 months to 32 years. Patients with clinical stages III and IV disease were found only in the group with a second tumor. In 5 patients known risk factors for the development of testicular tumors were found and in 2 prior testicular biopsies showed carcinoma in situ. Effective chemotherapy was used more often in the treatment of the second primary tumor.Of the 20 patients 18 (90 per cent) are free of disease after a mean observation of 5.7 years. A long followup of testicular cancer patients with sonographic evaluation of the remaining testis as well as periodic self-examination by the patient is required.