High dose chemotherapy followed by autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for advanced germ cell tumors: State of the art and a single-center experience

Background: Evidence for the choice of second line, standard vs high dose chemotherapy, (SDCT, HDCT) for patients with relapsed germ cell tumors (GCTs) comes mainly from retrospective studies.

Material and methods: relevant literature was reviewed, considering as endpoints both survival and long term quality of life (QoL). Patients with metastatic GCT progressing after first-line treatment at our Institution were retrospectively evaluated.

Results: HDCT seems to achieve a higher rate of long-term remissions. QoL data for this group of patients are lacking. Our experience on 29 patients was in line with these results. Two-year OS for the 18 patients treated with one or two HDCT/PBSCT procedures was 47.5 %, while 2-year PFS was 44 %. For the 11 receiving SDCT 2-year OS was 36.4 %, and 2-year PFS was 32.7 %.

Conclusions: HDCT/PBSCT confirmed to be effective in treating patients with relapsed GCT, but prospective studies are needed.