Survival of testicular cancer patients in Osaka, Japan

Background: Testicular cancer is one of those cancers for which the prognos is has improved remarkably since the introduction of effective chemotherapy . Methods: Study subjects were 709 testicular cancer patients who were regist ered to the population-based Osaka Cancer Registry (OCR) as diagnosed betwe en 1975 and 1992. The testicular cancer patients diagnosed/treated in the O saka Medical Center for Cancer and Cardiovascular Diseases (OMCC) were also analyzed for comparison. Results: The 5-year relative survival was 75.2% for the total of 709 patien ts and 77.9% for those diagnosed during 1990-92. These figures were much lo wer than those for patients in the USA and in Europe. In contrast, the 5-ye ar survival of the 113 patients diagnosed in the OMCC during 1975-93 was 91 .5% and similar to those in the USA and in Europe. Conclusions: The present study suggests that there are problems in the spee d and extent of diffusion of effective chemotherapy for testicular cancer i n Osaka.