Successful Treatment with High-Dose Chemotherapy Followed by Autologous Stem-Cell Transplantation in a Patient with Metastatic Germ Cell Tumor

Abstract

Although testicular germ cell tumors (GCTs) are known to curable disease even in cases with metastatic disease, patients in intermediate or poor-risk group may experience disease progression or refractory to the initial chemotherapy and needed second-line therapy. Long-term disease-free survival was unsatisfactory in relapsed/refractory patients with poor-risk factors and clinical trials for those patients are still insufficient. High-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) with stem-cell rescue may be an effective alternative for conventional chemotherapy-resistant patients who are eligible for transplantation. Herein, we present successful treatment experience with HDCT followed by autologous stem-cell transplantation in a severely ill patient with heavily pretreated metastatic GCT.

Keywords

• high-dose chemotherapy
• autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation
• germ cell tumor