Adjuvant therapy of completely resected dysgerminoma with carboplatin and etoposide: a trial of the Gynecologic Oncology Group.

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to evaluate the effect of adjuvant chemotherapy with carboplatin and etoposide in patients with completely resected stage IB-III dysgerminoma.

METHODS: Eligible patients were treated with three courses of carboplatin 400 mg/m(2) on day 1 plus etoposide 120 mg/m(2) on days 1, 2, and 3 every 4 weeks for three courses.

RESULTS: Forty-two patients were entered on this trial, of whom 39 were eligible. No patient suffered a recurrence of dysgerminoma, but one patient ultimately died of lung adenocarcinoma. One patient was excluded on pathology review (elements of endodermal sinus tumor were present) developed recurrent tumor and died despite further therapy. As expected, the regimen was well tolerated. Median follow-up of surviving patients is 7.8 years (range: 2.86 months to 10.92 years).

CONCLUSION: The regimen used in this study is an alternative to cisplatin, etoposide, and bleomycin (BEP) for selected patients for whom minimizing toxicity (particularly neuropathy) is critical or for whom reduction in the number of treatment days is important.