seminoma or non?

[Ski11181]

Now that the path report is in I am still a bit confused. being 95% seminoma 5% embryonal. Should I be treated like its seminoma or non-seminoma? Event hough its only 5% its still the most aggressive part of the cancer right? Any help would be great.

[Ski11181]

also the doctor told me that since the tumor markers came back negative that we couldn't use them to track my progress. Should I make sure that they checking those with every follow-up visit seeing as I do have a non-seminoma portion of the tumor?

[Scott]

Every standard surveillance routine -- for seminoma and non-seminoma alike -- includes blood tests to check for tumor markers.

[Scott]

Should I be treated like its seminoma or non-seminoma?

Since it isn't pure seminoma, it must be treated as non-seminoma.

[Fed]

I'm afraid Scott's right. The minuscule amount of embryonal carcinoma automatically makes it nonseminoma; and, you're also right in saying that the embryonal component is the most aggressive part of the tumor. Seminomas grow and spread very slowly, whereas embryonal grows and spreads rapidly. EC can sometimes skip the lymph nodes and go straight to the lungs.

As far as your post-I/O treatment is concerned, if you indeed choose surveillance, you will need more frequent follow-ups. For example, in years 1 and 2, you would have bloodwork for markers and chest X-rays every 2 months and CT scans every 2-4 months. Some tumors don't present with markers (particularly seminoma), and in your case, the bloodwork alone will not determine the presence of a relapse if it were to happen (knock on wood).

Hope this helps,

[petep]

look at the guidelines on this site...non-seminoma surveillance is monthly year 1...with a CT scan every 3 months....embryonal can move very fast...which ironically makes it respond quite well to chemo because the fast dividing cells are targeted by some chemo mechanisms.

pete