Risking Less Treatment in Cancer Patients: Lessons from Germ-cell Tumours

Abstract Background Sperm cryopreservation, an effective method for preserving male fertility, is very advantageous for men suffering from cancer. Unfortunately, as both physicians and cancer patients are unaware of the possibilities for sperm cryopreservation, the data on evaluation of semen parameters and disposition of cryopreserved samples among Chinese cancer patients are scarce. Results Male tumours were classified into six major types, germ cell tumours (26 %), haematological neoplasms (28 %), head and neck cancers (19 %), thoracic tumours (4 %), abdominal tumours (10 %), and others (13 %). Haematological neoplasm was the most prevalent cancer among our cohort of patients who opted for sperm banking, followed by germ cell tumours. Patients with germ cell tumours had the lowest pre-thaw and post-thaw seminal sperm concentrations. We separately compared patients with testicular tumours, lymphoma, and leukaemia, and found that leukaemia patients had the lowest pre-thaw sperm concentrations. Most cancer patients (58 %) chose to keep their specimens stored, while 31 % chose to discard the specimens. Over the years, only 13 patients (4 %) returned to use their spermatozoa by assisted reproductive technology. Of the stored samples, patients with germ cell tumours constituted the highest proportion (29.3 %). Moreover, the percentage of haematological neoplasm patients who had no spermatozoa frozen was the highest (46.2 %). Conclusions The present data confirm the deleterious impact of various cancers on semen quality. Leukaemia was associated with the worst semen quality and the highest number of semen samples that could not be frozen. We suggest that sperm quality may have decreased even before anti-neoplastic treatment and that sperm banking before treatment should be strongly recommended for cancer patients. A sperm banking programme before gonadotoxic therapy requires close cooperation between assisted reproduction centres and cancer clinics.

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437: Predictability of Androgen Deficiency in Testicular Germ Cell Cancer Patients by Residual Testicular Volume

The Journal of Urology ◽

10.1016/s0022-5347(18)34690-1 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 173 (4S) ◽

pp. 119-119 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Gerald Puehse ◽

Armin Secker ◽

Sebastian Kemper ◽

Lothar Hertle ◽

Sabine Kliesch

Keyword(s):

Germ Cell ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Cell Cancer ◽

Germ Cell Cancer ◽

Testicular Volume ◽

Androgen Deficiency ◽

Testicular Germ Cell ◽

Testicular Germ Cell Cancer

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Nitrogen fractionation processes in germ cell tumours in the light of the most modern method of direct cancer tissue investigation

10.26226/morressier.5b4709846f4cb30010951b88 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Katarzyna Taran

Keyword(s):

Germ Cell ◽

Modern Method ◽

Cancer Tissue ◽

Germ Cell Tumours

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Faculty of 1000 evaluation for Regional deep hyperthermia for salvage treatment of children and adolescents with refractory or recurrent non-testicular malignant germ-cell tumours: an open-label, non-randomised, single-institution, phase 2 study.

F1000 - Post-publication peer review of the biomedical literature ◽

10.3410/f.718052125.793484801 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Steve Plaxe ◽

Kristy Ward

Keyword(s):

Germ Cell ◽

Children And Adolescents ◽

Salvage Treatment ◽

Germ Cell Tumours ◽

Phase 2 ◽

Single Institution ◽

Open Label ◽

Phase 2 Study ◽

Deep Hyperthermia

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The Potential of Artificial Intelligence to Detect Lymphovascular Invasion in Testicular Cancer

Cancers ◽

10.3390/cancers13061325 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (6) ◽

pp. 1325

Author(s):

Abhisek Ghosh ◽

Korsuk Sirinukunwattana ◽

Nasullah Khalid Alham ◽

Lisa Browning ◽

Richard Colling ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Artificial Intelligence ◽

Testicular Cancer ◽

Germ Cell ◽

Lymphovascular Invasion ◽

Automatic Segmentation ◽

Prognostic Significance ◽

Germ Cell Tumours ◽

Testicular Germ Cell ◽

Testicular Germ Cell Tumours ◽

Whole Slide Images

Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men aged from 15 to 34 years. Lymphovascular invasion refers to the presence of tumours within endothelial-lined lymphatic or vascular channels, and has been shown to have prognostic significance in testicular germ cell tumours. In non-seminomatous tumours, lymphovascular invasion is the most powerful prognostic factor for stage 1 disease. For the pathologist, searching multiple slides for lymphovascular invasion can be highly time-consuming. The aim of this retrospective study was to develop and assess an artificial intelligence algorithm that can identify areas suspicious for lymphovascular invasion in histological digital whole slide images. Areas of possible lymphovascular invasion were annotated in a total of 184 whole slide images of haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained tissue from 19 patients with testicular germ cell tumours, including a mixture of seminoma and non-seminomatous cases. Following consensus review by specialist uropathologists, we trained a deep learning classifier for automatic segmentation of areas suspicious for lymphovascular invasion. The classifier identified 34 areas within a validation set of 118 whole slide images from 10 patients, each of which was reviewed by three expert pathologists to form a majority consensus. The precision was 0.68 for areas which were considered to be appropriate to flag, and 0.56 for areas considered to be definite lymphovascular invasion. An artificial intelligence tool which highlights areas of possible lymphovascular invasion to reporting pathologists, who then make a final judgement on its presence or absence, has been demonstrated as feasible in this proof-of-concept study. Further development is required before clinical deployment.

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Primary mediastinal germ cell tumours with high prevalence of somatic malignancy: An experience from a single tertiary care oncology centre

Annals of Diagnostic Pathology ◽

10.1016/j.anndiagpath.2021.151763 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 151763

Author(s):

Arshi Beg ◽

Rajiv Kumar ◽

Ayushi Sahay ◽

Amit Janu ◽

Amit Joshi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Germ Cell ◽

Tertiary Care ◽

Germ Cell Tumours ◽

High Prevalence ◽

Oncology Centre

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86 Gliomatosis peritonei associated with ovarian germ cell tumours- a clinicopathological case series

10.1136/ijgc-2020-igcs.81 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

A Jayraj ◽

S Kumar ◽

N Bhatla ◽

S Thulkar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Germ Cell ◽

Case Series ◽

Germ Cell Tumours ◽

Gliomatosis Peritonei

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GCT-65. INCIDENCE AND OUTCOME OF INTRACRANIAL MALIGNANT GERM CELL TUMOURS DIAGNOSED IN WESTERN DENMARK IN THE LAST DECADE

Neuro-Oncology ◽

10.1093/neuonc/noaa222.282 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 22 (Supplement_3) ◽

pp. iii341-iii341

Author(s):

Yasmin Lassen-Ramshad ◽

Torben Stamm Mikkelsen ◽

Steen Rosthoej ◽

Louise Tram Henriksen ◽

Ruta Tuckuvienne ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Germ Cell ◽

Chart Review ◽

Recurrent Disease ◽

High Dose Chemotherapy ◽

Salvage Treatment ◽

High Dose ◽

Germ Cell Tumours ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Multidrug Chemotherapy ◽

Disseminated Disease

Abstract INTRODUCTION Intracranial malignant germ cell tumours (iGCT) are rare brain tumours mainly diagnosed in children and younger adults. MATERIAL AND METHODS A retrospective analysis was performed by chart review of patients treated for iGCT in the northern and central region of Denmark. Teratoma only patients were not included in the study. RESULTS 20 patients with iGCT were diagnosed from 2008–2019 in Western Denmark. The cumulative incidence was 1.05 per 100.000. The yearly incidence was 0.1 per 100.000. Mean age at diagnosis was 18 years (range 8–36 years), 17 were males and 3 were females. 13 patients presented with germinoma and 7 patients with non germinomateous germ cell tumours (NGGCT). Three patients had disseminated disease, two with germinoma and one with NGGCT. All patients had received radiotherapy and 18 patients were treated with multidrug chemotherapy including platinum and etoposide before irradiation. Two patients experienced recurrent disease, both non disseminated at diagnosis, one patient with germinoma and one patient with NGGCT. Both received salvage treatment including high dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplantation and reirradiation. Two NGGCT patients died, one patient after development of an anaplastic astrocytoma in the radiation field five years after radiotherapy and one patient after intracranial hemorraghe 18 months after salvage treatment for recurrent disease. Overall survival was 90%, 100% for GCT and 71% for NGGCT. CONCLUSION The outcome of patients with iGCT in Western Denmark was comparable to the literature. A nationwide study of epidemiology and outcome of iGCT in Denmark is planned.

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