Clinical Disparities for Minorities and Foreign-Born Men With Undescended Versus Descended Testicular Germ Cell Tumors.

BACKGROUND: Few reports have been published regarding the outcomes of patients who develop an undescended testicular malignancy (UTM). Our objective was to analyze the sociodemographic and survival outcomes of patients with UTM and those of with descended testicular malignancy (DTM). PATIENTS AND METHODS: All 17 registries constituting the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database were analyzed from 1988 to 2008. Patients with a descended or undescended testis and a diagnosis of nonseminomatous or seminomatous testicular cancer were identified. Descriptive statistical data and multivariate analysis were used to identify the predictors of a UTM diagnosis. The primary outcomes were overall and disease-specific survival. RESULTS: The study cohort included 10,159 men (95.3%) with DTM and 496 (4.7%) with UTM. Patients with UTM were more likely to be older, married, and a minority or foreign born and to have seminoma, a higher rate of node positivity, and a higher SEER stage compared with patients with DTM. The median survival time for patients with UTM was longer than that for patients with to DTM (83.1 vs. 72.5 months; P = .0001), although no difference was found in cancer-specific mortality (P = .34). CONCLUSION: Patients with UTM are more likely to be a minority or foreign born, highlighting a previously unrecognized healthcare disparity that might represent a lack of diagnosis and access to care.

Risk of testicular cancer in cohort of boys with cryptorchidism.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the risk of testicular cancer in relation to undescended testis and its treatment based on recorded details of the maldescent, treatment, and biopsy from case notes. DESIGN: Cohort study. SETTING: Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London. SUBJECTS: 1075 boys with cryptorchidism treated by orchidopexy or hormones at the hospital during 1951-64. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Relative risk of testicular cancer in the cohort compared with men in the general population. RESULTS: 12 testicular cancers occurred in 11 of the patients during follow up to mid-1990 (relative risk of cancer in males with cryptorchidism = 7.5 (95% confidence interval 3.9 to 12.8)). The relative risk fell significantly beyond 15 years after orchidopexy but did not decrease with younger age at orchidopexy. Risk was significantly raised in testes that had had biopsy samples removed during orchidopexy (relative risk = 66.7 (23.9 to 143.3) compared with a testis in a man in the general population) and was significantly greater in these testes than in undescended testes that had not had biopsy samples taken at orchidopexy (6.7 (2.7 to 13.5)). No reasons for biopsy or distinguishing clinical aspects of the testes that had had biopsy samples taken and later developed malignancies were evident in the case notes. No histological abnormalities were evident at initial biopsy except in one testis that had features of dysgenesis. CONCLUSIONS: Biopsy seems to be a stronger risk factor for testicular cancer than any factor previously identified. The trauma of open biopsy may contribute substantially to risk of malignancy or the testes may have been selected for biopsy on the basis of clinical factors predictive of malignancy but not mentioned in the case notes.

Tumors in undescended testis.

We herein report our experience in the management of 21 patients with tumors in undescended testis. The primary tumor was in the abdominal testis in six patients and in the inguinal testis in 15 patients. Seventeen patients had unilateral involvement and four had bilateral. Prior orchiopexy was reported in six (30%) patients, unilateral in three and bilateral in the other three, although tumors occurred in one side of three bilateral orchiopexy patients. Clinical staging showed five as stage I, six at stage IIb, two as stage IIc, seven as stage III, and in one no stage was possible. Microscopy showed seminoma, non-seminoma, and mixed tumors in 12, six, and three patients, respectively. As per protocol, stages I and IIb had either radiotherapy or retroperitoneal node dissection, giving three and five year survival of 11/11 (100%) and 7/7 (100%). All nine patients with stage IIc and stage III received induction chemotherapy (VAB-6) first and showed complete response (CR) in four (45%) and partial response (PR) in five (55%). Three and 5 year survival was 45% and 33%, respectively. Overall, 3 and 5 year survival was 70% and 69% respectively in all patients. Early stage disease (stages I, IIb) had excellent survivals, showing the adequacy of treatment, while patients with advanced tumor can still be salvaged with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy.