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J Nachman, NF Palmer, HN Sather, WA Bleyer, PF Coccia, JN Lukens, SE Siegel and GD Hammond
University of Chicago Medical Center, IL.
Bilateral testicular biopsies were performed on 708 males with acute
lymphoblastic leukemia completing 24 to 30 months of maintenance
chemotherapy in continuous remission. The 73 patients (10.3%) with occult
testicular leukemia (TL) had a significantly increased risk of subsequent
relapse (P = .0001) and death (P less than .0001) when compared with
patients with negative biopsies. Protocol-specified therapy for occult TL
included reinduction therapy with concurrent bilateral testicular
radiation, and 2 years of maintenance therapy. Four-year event-free
survival for patients with negative biopsies was 78.2% +/- 4% versus 65%
+/- 14% for patients with occult TL who received protocol-specified therapy
(P = .05). This study suggests that (1) occult TL occurs in 10% of males
completing 2 years of maintenance therapy; (2) occult TL significantly
increases risk for subsequent relapse and death; (3) treatment results for
occult TL and isolated overt off therapy TL (no previous biopsy) are
similar; and (4) given current therapy, documentation of occult TL after 2
years of therapy does not improve disease-free survival.
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