Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Case Report
  • Published:

Testicular germ cell tumor with rhabdomyosarcoma successfully treated by disease-adapted chemotherapy including high-dose chemotherapy: case report and review of the literature

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 28, pages 787–789 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Treatment and prognosis have not been well characterized in germ cell tumors (GCT) with a malignant nongerm cell component. Patients with a mediastinal tumor, neural or rhabdomyosarcomatous differentiation and distant metastases have the poorest prognosis. We report a rare case of mixed GCT composed of seminoma, teratoma and rhabdomyosarcoma with the rhabdomyosarcomatous component metastasized into the liver and bone marrow (BM) causing hypercalcemia. The patient was treated with differentiation-tailored chemotherapy (CHT) including a disease-adapted high-dose (HD) CHT regimen with purified autologous PBSCT (APBSCT) and pamidronate. To date, remission has lasted for 4 years. Tumor-adapted CHT including HD-CHT with APBSCT can induce long term remissions in high-risk patients with transformed GCT. A review of the literature is given. Bone Marrow Transplantation (2001) 28, 787–789.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Ulbright TM, Loehrer PJ, Roth LM et al. The development of non-germ cell malignancies within germ cell tumors. A clinicopathological study of 11 cases Cancer 1984 54: 1824–1833

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Ahmed T, Bosl GJ, Hajdu SI . Teratoma with malignant transformation in germ cell tumors in men Cancer 1985 56: 860–869

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Little JS Jr, Foster RS, Ulbright TM et al. Unusual neoplasms detected in testicular cancer patients undergoing post-chemotherapy retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy J Urol 1994 152: 1144–1151

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Comiter CV, Kibel AS, Richie JP et al. Prognostic features of teratomas with malignant transformation: a clinicopathological study of 21 cases J Urol 1998 159: 859–863

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Nagahara N, Kitamura H, Kanisawa M et al. A testicular teratoma with rhabdomyosarcoma and seminoma Acta Pathol Jpn 1991 41: 707–711

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Motzer RJ, Amsterdam A, Prieto V et al. Teratoma with malignant transformation: diverse malignant histologies arising in men with germ cell tumors J Urol 1998 159: 133–138

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Ahlgren AD, Simrell CR, Triche TJ . Sarcoma arising in a residual testicular teratoma after cytoreductive chemotherapy Cancer 1984 54: 2015–2022

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Ritchey ML, Bagnall JW, McDonald EC et al. Development of nongerm cell malignancies in nonseminomatous germ cell tumors J Urol 1985 134: 146–149

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Terrier-Lacombe M-J, Martinez-Madrigal F, Porta W et al. Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma arising in a mature teratoma of the testis: a case report J Urol 1990 143: 1232–1234

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Steward WP, Verweij J, Somers R et al. The use of recombinant human granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor with combination chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced adult soft-tissue sarcomas: early results from the EORTC Soft-Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 1993 31: (Suppl. 2) S241–S244

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Williams SD, Birch R, Einhorn LH et al. Treatment of disseminated germ-cell tumors with cisplatin, bleomycin, and either vinblastine or etoposide New Engl J Med 1987 316: 1435–1440

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Siegert W, Beyer J, Strohscheer I et al. High-dose treatment with carboplatin, etoposide, and ifosfamide followed by autologous stem-cell transplantation in relapsed or refractory germ cell cancer: a phase I/II study. The German Testicular Cancer Cooperative Study Group J Clin Oncol 1994 12: 1223–1231

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Boulad F, Kernan NA, LaQuaglia MP et al. High-dose induction chemoradiotherapy followed by autologous bone marrow transplantation as consolidation therapy in rhabdomyosarcoma, extraosseous Ewing's sarcoma, and undifferentiated sarcoma J Clin Oncol 1998 16: 1697–1706

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Blay JY, Bouhour D, Ray-Coquard I et al. High-dose chemotherapy with autologous hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation for advanced soft tissue sarcoma in adults J Clin Oncol 2000 18: 3643–3650

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hematology, Oncology and Transfusion Medicine, Klinikum Benjamin Franklin, Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany

    A Korfel, L Fischer & E Thiel

  2. Department of Pathology, Klinikum Benjamin Franklin, Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany

    H-D Foss

  3. Department of Radiology, Klinikum Benjamin Franklin, Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany

    H-C Koch

Authors
  1. A Korfel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. L Fischer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. H-D Foss
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. H-C Koch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. E Thiel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Korfel, A., Fischer, L., Foss, HD. et al. Testicular germ cell tumor with rhabdomyosarcoma successfully treated by disease-adapted chemotherapy including high-dose chemotherapy: case report and review of the literature. Bone Marrow Transplant 28, 787–789 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1703212

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1703212

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links