Therapy de-escalation in stage IIA/B seminoma represents an unmet need in clinical practice; efficacy of modern standard of care therapies for these patients is high and only a few patients show disease recurrence but short- and long-term toxicities are a major concern. The magnitude of long-term toxicities is often associated with the intensity of the prescribed treatment modality. A higher cumulative dose of chemotherapy agents and radiation dose has been linked to a sharp increase in long-term sequelae. Combining treatment modalities and diversifying toxicity may thus provide an opportunity to limit long-term treatment sequelae.~In this trial carboplatin, cisplatin and etoposide are the Investigational Medicine Products (IMPs). They are all medications with a marketing authorization for several solid tumor types and are standard practice in the treatment of testicular cancer in Switzerland and in the European Union (EU).~Radiotherapy is also a standard therapy in this indication.~However, the trial investigates a stage-adapted (stage IIA or IIB) de-escalation of these standard treatments in the context of a multimodality treatment with chemo- and radiotherapy. The goal is to safely de-escalate treatment while maintaining/enhancing efficacy, which is not a standard practice yet.~The SAKK 01/18 trial is designed with the aim to answer these three questions:~Can the dose of involved-node radiotherapy be safely reduced in the context of multimodality treatment with chemo- and radiotherapy?~Can a more potent chemotherapy in the form of cisplatin/etoposide reduce the rate of distant failure in comparison to carboplatin?~Can a combination of cisplatin/etoposide and involved-node radiotherapy pose a potent treatment regime for patients with recurrence after adjuvant carboplatin or radiotherapy for stage I seminoma? Furthermore, as active surveillance is becoming standard of care in stage I seminoma, it is projected that the amount of patients in need of treatment with stage IIA/B disease will rise, due to more patients developing disease progression during active surveillance.~The trial design, trial treatment and trial specifics are a consensus among the Swiss Urogenital Tumors Project Group and the Swiss Radio-oncology Section from the Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research (SAKK) and the German Testicular Cancer Study Group (GTCSG).
The trial investigates a stage-adapted (stage IIA or IIB) de-escalation of the standard treatments in the context of a multimodality treatment with chemo- and radiotherapy in seminoma patients. The goal is to safely de-escalate treatment while maintaining/enhancing efficacy, which is not a standard practice yet.