Carolyn Vachani, RN, MSN, AOCN The Abramson Cancer Center of the
University of Pennsylvania Last Modified: June 23, 2008 Seminoma
(the most common type of testicular cancer) has traditionally
been treated with orchiectomy followed by radiation therapy.
Follow-up of these patients found that the radiation therapy
resulted in higher risk of mortality, secondary cancers and
cardiac issues. Seminomas are known to be quite sensitive to
platinum chemotherapy agents. Therefore, this study compared 1
cycle of carboplatin to radiation therapy in stage I seminomas
following orchiectomy. 1477 patients were randomly assigned to
receive radiation or carboplatin after surgery. This report is
based on 6.5 years follow up. There was no significant
difference in recurrence-free survival between the groups. There
was, however, a significant difference in the rate of 2 nd
primary germ cell tumors (GCT). There were 2 (0.3%) cases in the
carboplatin group (C) and 15 (1.7%) in the radiation therapy
(RT) group. As for side effects,