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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Pasquale RescignoORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
© 2022 Mediastinum. All rights reserved.Objective: The aim of this review is to analyze feasibility and toxicities of high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) in comparison to standard dose chemotherapy (SDCT) in patients affected by mediastinal germ cell tumors (MGCTs), discussing factors that may affect therapeutic choices, such as: management of residual disease, early response predictors for chemotherapeutic efficacy and determinants of chemotherapeutic resistance. In this review, we discuss the main clinical experiences with HDCT and SDCT in germ cell tumor (GCT) patients specifically in those affected by MGCT. Background: MGCTs represent a very small subset characterized by a poor prognosis, despite improvements in their clinical management and in understanding their biology. From early 1970s, HDCT has become an alternative to SDCT for both first-line and salvage therapeutic settings in advanced GCT patients. Several HDCT schedules-either cisplatin or carboplatin-based-have been tested so far, both in clinical randomized trial and in single-center experiences, with divergent results in terms of clinical outcomes and tolerability. Moreover, the majority of these studies included, but were not exclusively designed for, advanced MGCT patients, making difficult to infer data for this specific subset. Methods: an extended review of literature through PubMed was conducted using the keywords "mediastinal germinal cell tumors", "standard dose chemotherapy"and "high dose chemotherapy". Conclusions: HDCT regimens could not be considered to date a standard option as first-line therapy in advanced MGCT patients, whilst they could be an alternative to SDCT regimens in relapsed tumors after proper patient selection.
Author(s): Giunta EF, Ottaviano M, Mosca A, Banna GL, Rescigno P
Publication type: Review
Publication status: Published
Journal: Mediastinum
Year: 2022
Volume: 6
Online publication date: 25/03/2022
Acceptance date: 22/09/2021
ISSN (electronic): 2522-6711
Publisher: AME Publishing Company
URL: https://doi.org/10.21037/MED-21-29
DOI: 10.21037/MED-21-29
