Clinicopathological characteristics, prognostic factors and treatment outcomes of seminomatous germ cell tumours from a tertiary cancer centre in eastern India

Background. Seminomatous germ cell tumour (SGCT) is a rare but curable malignancy of young adults. The literature on management and outcome of SGCT is scarce from India. We report the demography and treatment outcome of SGCT at our centre. Methods. We did a retrospective analysis of patients with SGCT treated from March 2011 to December 2018. Patients were staged appropriately with imaging, and pre- and postoperative tumour markers. High inguinal orchiectomy was performed in all with a testicular primary and received subsequent stage-adjusted adjuvant treatment. Patients were monitored for metabolic syndrome during follow-up after completion of treatment. Results. We treated 85 patients with a median age of 37 (range 20–68) years. The primary site of the tumour was the testis in 80 (94%) and mediastinum in 5 (6%) patients. Cryptorchidism was present in 20 (25%) patients and testicular violation was present in 11 (14%) patients. Stage of the disease was I in 61, II in 13 and III in 6 patients. Adjuvant treatment in stage I disease was single-agent carbo-platin (area under the curve ×7) in 38 (62%), surveillance in 20 (33%) and radiotherapy in 3 (5%) patients. Five patients in the surveillance group relapsed. The 7-year mean (SD) relapse-free survival and overall survival were 83.1% (8%) and 98.7% (1.3%), respectively. Thirty-one patients (n = 52, 60%) had features of metabolic syndrome. Conclusions. SGCTs have a high cure rate. Long-term follow-up is essential for monitoring toxic effects. Early diagnosis, avoidance of testicular violation and multidisciplinary management are the key features for better long-term outcome in SGCT.