Effects of radiotherapy on the survival of patients with malignant spermatic cord tumors: A retrospective cohort study

Background: Malignant spermatic cord tumors (SCT) are rare and currently, there is no consensus regarding the role of radiotherapy in their treatment. This study evaluated the effect of radiotherapy on the overall survival (OS) of patients with malignant SCT based on the large-sample advantage of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database.

Methods: Patients with malignant SCT recorded in the SEER database from 1975 to 2016 were included. All patients were divided into non-radiation and radiation groups, and propensity score matching (PSM) (1:1) was performed for baseline covariates between the two groups. The overall survival rate between the two groups of patients was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier curve. The effects of radiotherapy on patient prognosis were analyzed using univariate and multivariate COX regression analyses.

Results: In total, 389 patients with malignant SCT were included. There were 285 (73.26%) and 104 (26.74%) patients who either did or did not receive radiotherapy, respectively. Kaplan-Meier curves before and after PSM showed no significant differences in OS between the two groups. Similarly, multivariate COX regression models before and after PSM showed that radiotherapy was not an independent risk factor for OS in patients with malignant SCT.

Conclusions: Radiotherapy has no obvious advantage in improving the survival time of patients with malignant SCT.