Survival of second testicular cancer not lower

NEW YORK, Aug 14 (Reuters) Men who survive testicular cancer are just as likely to survive a second cancer as men who never had testicular cancer, according to a report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

About one third of testicular cancer survivors will develop a second cancer later in life, the authors explain. But it has not been known if the survival rates associated with the second cancer differs from the survival rates following the diagnosis of the first testicular cancer.

Dr. Catherine Schairer from the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, and associates compared the overall and cancer-related death rates for 621 testicular cancer survivors who develop a second cancer with the cancer-related death rates of 12,430 men diagnosed with a first cancer.

The authors found that, in general, the overall and cancer-related death rates did not differ between testicular cancer survivors and first-time cancer patients.

One exception was testicular cancer survivors who were treated between 1973 and 1979.

During this period, a form of radiation therapy was used that caused increased damage to the chest area, including the lungs. Men who were treated during this period and later developed lung cancer were more likely to die from this cancer than were lung cancer patients who never had testicular cancer.

No difference in death rates were seen when the analysis only included testicular cancer patients treated since 1980.

The findings suggest that ''treatment regimens for testicular cancer used since 1980 have not (worsened) survival from subsequently diagnosed cancers,'' the authors conclude.

SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, August 7, 2007.

REUTERS CS VC1022