Purpose: To evaluate the long-term survival rates in patients with relapsed or refractory germ cell tumors (GCTs) after single or sequential high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT).
Patients and methods: Between November 1999 and November 2004, 211 patients with relapsed or refractory GCT were randomly assigned to treatment with either one cycle of cisplatin 100 mg/m(2), etoposide 375 mg/m(2), and ifosfamide 6 g/m(2) (VIP) plus three cycles of high-dose carboplatin 1,500 mg/m(2) and etoposide 1,500 mg/m(2) (CE, arm A) or three cycles of VIP plus one cycle of high-dose carboplatin 2,200 mg/m(2), etoposide 1,800 mg/m(2), and cyclophosphamide 6,400 mg/m(2) (CEC, arm B) followed by autologous stem-cell reinfusion. Long-term progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) 6 years after random assignment of the last patient were compared by using the log-rank test.
Results: Overall, 108 and 103 patients were randomly assigned to arms A and B, respectivelyl. The study was stopped prematurely because of excess treatment-related mortality in arm B (14%) compared with that in arm A (4%; P = .01). As of December 2010, nine (5%) of 211 patients were lost to follow-up; 94 (45%) of 211 are alive and 88 (94%) of 94 patients are progression free. Five-year PFS is 47% (95% CI, 37% to 56%) in arm A and 45% (95% CI, 35% to 55%) in arm B (hazard ratio [HR], 1.16; 95% CI, 0.79 to 1.70; P = .454). Five-year OS is 49% (95% CI, 40% to 59%) in arm A and 39% (95% CI, 30% to 49%) in arm B (HR, 1.42; 95% CI, 0.99 to 2.05; P = .057).
Conclusion: Patients with relapsed or refractory GCT achieve durable long-term survival after single as well as sequential HDCT. Fewer early deaths related to toxicity translated into superior long-term OS after sequential HDCT.