Reduced-intensity radio-chemotherapy

SAKK 01/18: Reduced-intensity radio-chemotherapy for stage IIA/B seminoma

The main objective of this trial is to conduct a single-arm, multicenter, prospective phase II trial testing different combinations of radiotherapy and chemotherapy based on the results of the current RTFCCR grant to reduce long-term toxicity.

Lay Abstract

Every year around 450 men in Switzerland develop testicular cancer, which is the most common type of cancer in men aged between 18 and 35. About half of those tumors are seminomas, most of which diagnosed with the tumor confined to testis and cured by removal of the affected testis. Around 15% of all patients do however present with disease which has spread to lymph nodes in the abdomen and pelvis, thus classified as having stage II disease and requiring further treatment. Standard therapy for a stage IIA or IIB seminoma is chemotherapy or radiotherapy. The two standard treatments are not usually combined. Although these treatments are extremely effective, they are intensive and bear the risk of long-term side-effects such as damage to the heart, blood vessels, kidneys, intestines and the inner ear, or the development of a second cancer. As the patients are often young, it is particularly relevant to reduce the risk of these side-effects as much as possible. The trial SAKK 01/18 is thus examining a new therapeutic approach: the combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, with a much weaker form of each therapy being used. This combination is designed to produce high rates of local control (by means of radiotherapy) and the eradication of micrometastases (by means of chemotherapy). Additionally, the trial aims to investigate how treatment affects the patients’ quality of life. SAKK 01/18 is the follow-on project to the completed trial SAKK 01/10 trial. The trial is running in Switzerland and Germany and 135 patients will be included.