In the management of testicular cancer, the chemotherapy treatment following surgery could be reduced without increasing the risk of recurrence. This would reduce long-term side effects.
Reassuring news for men – often young – affected by testicular cancer: the usual treatment of two cycles of chemotherapy could be replaced by a treatment based on a single cycle, with comparable effectiveness in preventing recurrence. What limit the adverse effects of these treatments which can have lifelong consequences on the health of patients.
It’s a study published in the journal European Urology and conducted by the Institute of Cancer Research, London which demonstrates that in men who have undergone surgery for an aggressive form of testicular cancer with a risk of disease recurrence within two years of initial diagnosis , the administration of a single cycle of chemotherapy was as effective in preventing recurrence as the two cycles usually used.
Decades of side effects
Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in young men, and it is frequently diagnosed in the age group between 20 and 30 years old. Treatment is initially surgical, but to destroy any cancer cells that have already spread, patients are then prescribed two cycles of chemotherapy. This provides a very high survival rate, but chemotherapy can cause side effects for decades.
In the recently completed study, researchers looked at the percentage of men whose testicular cancer recurred within two years of treatment with a single cycle of chemotherapy. They then compared the relapse rate with data collected from patients who had been treated with two cycles of chemotherapy. Result: 1.3% of patients who received a single cycle of chemotherapy saw their cancer reappear after the end of treatment, a rate almost identical to that observed in previous studies of patients who had undergone two cycles of chemotherapy.
“Cure cancer but also take care to limit adverse effects”
As for the reduction in side effects linked to the administration of a single cycle of chemotherapy, it is also significant since if 41% of the men treated experienced several side effects during the treatment (risk of infection, sepsis or vomiting), only 2.6% of patients experienced long-term side effects, most commonly hearing impairment.
“We tend to focus on whether or not cancer can be cured, but for a disease like testicular cancer which often affects young people, it is also essential to ensure that the treatment does not ‘does not impose lifelong side effects on patients,’ said Emma Hall, deputy director of the clinical trials unit at the London Cancer Research Institute.
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