UK study shows carboplatin more ‘effective’ in testis cancer patients
Monday, 6 October 2008- Patients with an early and common form of testicular cancer respond better with a single chemotherapy treatment using carboplatin compared with radiotherapy which is known to have more debilitating side effects, according to a UK study.
Researchers led by Dr. Ben Mead presented their findings at the 4th National Cancer Research Institute’s Cancer Conference held this week in Birmingham, the UK. “We were pleased by the results of this huge trial. Giving patients a carboplatin injection rather than radiotherapy is less unpleasant with fewer long-term risks,” said Mead, an honorary senior lecturer in medical oncology at the University of Southampton's School of Medicine.
The study showed that carboplatin, currently used to treat ovarian and lung cancers, could replace the need for radiotherapy in men with early-stage seminoma or testis cancer with carboplatin having fewer long-term side effects or health risks compared to current treatment strategies using radiotherapy.
In what is considered as the largest ever trial involving early-stage seminoma, a single carboplatin injection was used to treat 573 patients. The results were compared with 904 men given two or three weeks of daily radiotherapy – the current standard treatment.
Those patients given carboplatin experienced fewer side-effects and were able to get back to their normal lives quicker than the men on radiotherapy. Moreover, of the 573 patients given carboplatin, only 5% relapsed – but none of the men died from their cancer following further treatment.
Men with seminomas usually have the testicle removed where the cancer occurred. In one in 20 cases, the other testicle also develops cancer. Those treated with carboplatin were less likely to develop cancer in the other testicle.
Only two out of 573 developed cancer in the other testicle, compared with 15 out of 904 patients treated with radiotherapy, according to the researchers.
In the UK, nearly 45% of testicular cancers are classed as early-stage seminoma, with around 780 to 880 cases reported annually.
Short term side-effects of radiotherapy include sickness and tiredness, with more serious long-term problems such as swelling and fibrosis, when tissue becomes less stretchy due to the radiation.
"The initial results of the trial looked encouraging, but we needed to follow patients for another four years before we knew for sure that they have been cured," added Mead. "These follow-up results are very reassuring and have already changed practice in Europe. We hope that carboplatin injections will become the standard treatment for this disease across the rest of the world within a few years. A particular advantage with this treatment is that follow up beyond three years in not necessary."
Sally Stenning, from the Medical Research Council's clinical trials unit, which funded the trial, said: "Testicular cancer caught early is now one of the most curable forms of cancer."
