Single course chemo is effective for preventing testicular cancer

Image credit – MedlinePlus

CANCER DIGEST – Jan. 4, 2020 – Half the chemo is as effective as current regimens in preventing recurrence of testicular cancer after surgery, a new study has found.

The study led by the Institute of Cancer Research, London and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation trust involved nearly 250 men with early stage testicular cancer at high risk of their cancer returning. The results appear in the Jan. 1, 2020 journal European Urology

After surgery, patients were given one three-week cycle of the standard combination chemotherapy instead of the current two cycles of the regimen. When the researchers compared the relapse rates of the men treated with the single course of chemo they found that the relapse rate was 1.3 percent nearly the same rate as that of historical data showed for men treated with the two-cycle chemo regimen.

Professor Robert Huddart, Professor of Urological Cancer at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and Consultant in Urological Oncology at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, said the new regimen could spare young men many of the side effects and complications of chemotherapy.

"Reducing the overall dose of chemotherapy could spare young men who have their whole lives ahead of them from long-term side effects," Huddart said in a press release. "And also means they will need fewer hospital visits for their treatment."

The results of this trial have already begun changing clinical practice, reducing the number of hospital admissions, and lowering the costs of treatment.

Read more ...

Source: Institute of Cancer Research press release and European Journal article