Interrelationships of histopathology and other clinical variables in patients with germ cell tumors of the testis.

Possible relationships between histopathologic cell type and several clinical variables were examined in 253 patients with Stage III nonseminomatous germ cell tumors of the testis. No statistically significant associations were found between cell type and either the side of primary tumor or cryptorchidism. The presence of elements of choriocarcinoma was associated with the presence of retroperitoneal tumor (P less than 0.03) but no other association between cell type and site of metastasis was encountered. Elevated serum levels of human chorionic gonadotropin were found in patients with elements of choriocarcinoma but serum levels of alphafetoprotein, lactate dehydrogenase and carcinoembryonic antigen were not correlated with a specific cell type. No statistically significant association was found between cell type and either complete response to combined modality therapy or survival. These results would indicate that cell type is probably not an important prognostic variable in patients with Stage III nonseminomatous tumors of the testis.