Management of residual mass in nonseminomatous germ cell tumors following chemotherapy

Advanced stage nonseminomatous testis cancer is commonly treated with chemotherapy and surgical resection. Patients with retroperitoneal residual masses >1cm following induction chemotherapy with normalized tumor markers should undergo a post-chemotherapy retroperitoneal lymph node dissection. Post chemotherapy retroperitoneal residual mass less than 1 cm with normal markers may be considered as complete response, although the possibility of residual teratoma and viable germ cell tumor are not definitively ruled out. Excellent long term disease free survival following surveillance may justify this option as the treatment of choice in this cohort of patients