Whereas patients with pure seminomatous EGCT histology have a long-term chance of cure of almost 90% irrespective of the primary tumor site, 45% of patients with mediastinal nonseminomas are alive at 5 years. This outcome is clearly inferior compared with patients with nonseminomatous retroperitoneal primary tumors.
The epidemiological data do not support a direct local lymphogenous or venous spread from the primary tumor to the pancreas. They rather suggest a systemic spread. Because of the positive outcome, radical removal of both solitary and multiple metastases should be attempted in eligible patients.
This investigation confirms that FDG PET is the best predictor of viable residual tumor in postchemotherapy seminoma residuals and should be used as a standard tool for clinical decision making in this patient group.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.