Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of primary chemotherapy with the schedule E400P in the treatment of patients with early stage II (IIa and IIb) and advanced seminoma of good prognosis according to the international classification (IGCCCG).
Patients and methods: Sixty-four patients were included. E400P consisted of cisplatin 25 mg/m2/day and etoposide 100 mg/m2/day for four days, every three weeks. Royal Marsden stages were IIab: 53% and IIc-IV: 47%. Twenty-three percent had high BHCG levels, twenty-seven percent had LDH > 2 x N. Sixty-two patients were of good prognosis according to the Medical Research Council classification.
Results: Response rate was 98% (69% complete remission, 29% residual disease). After a median follow-up of 34 months, treatment failure was seen in 7 patients (11%). Neutropenia (32%) was the most relevant grade 3-4 toxicity. Other important grade 3-4 side effects were found in less than 5%. Three-year time to treatment failure (TTF) was 89% (95% confidence intervals (CI): 80%-97%) for all patients, 91% (95% CI: 80%-99%) for stages IIa-b, and 87% (95% CI: 74%-99%) for stages IIc-IV. Three-year overall survival (OS) was 97% (95% CI: 93%-99%) for all patients and 95% (95% CI: 85%-99%) for stages IIa-b.
Conclusions: E400P was a very active and safe regimen in good-prognosis advanced seminoma, with low toxicity rates. Definitive comparisons of this regimen with radiotherapy in stages IIa-b or with the more standard E500P or BEP, could be of interest.