Germ cell cancer (GCC): Long-term survival after treatment with bleomycin (B), etoposide (E), and cisplatin (P) in a large cohort.

Abstract

4533 Background: In 1997 the International Germ Cell Cancer Collaborative Group presented a classification dividing patients into a good, intermediate, and poor prognostic group for metastatic GCC with 5-year survival information. However, only a minor part of these patients were treated with today’s standard treatment. We present the first nationwide and population based study of overall survival (OS) and disease specific survival (DSS) in a large cohort of GCC patients treated with BEP. Methods: A nationwide and population based clinical database covering GCC patients diagnosed 1984-2007 was constructed, including 4,683 GCC cases. Through merging with national administrative registers, information on vital status and cause of death for all patients until November 30, 2012, was obtained. Results: The 5-year OS for the whole database cohort was 96%. A total of 1,584 patients were treated with BEP (1,099 patients with primary metastatic disease, 485 patients relapsed from stage I). Until 2001, the standard treatment was 4 cycles of BEP, after 2001 patients with good prognosis had 3 cycles of BEP. Overall survival (OS) and disease specific survival (DSS) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) (Table), median observation time was 13.8 years. Conclusions: This cohort study showed improved OS for GCC patients across all prognostic groups since 1997, in particular regarding the poor prognostic group. The present result is based on a large number of cases established in a population based fashion, with long follow up time and unbiased information covering all cohort members including detailed clinical information and vital status of all patients. [Table: see text]