Long-term follow-up of pulmonary function in patients cured from testicular cancer with combination chemotherapy including bleomycin

Abstract

A follow-up study of pulmonary function in two groups of patients with testicular cancer was performed 6-12 years after treatment. Both groups, 47 patients in each, had undergone retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND). Patients with pathological stage (ps) II had also received bleomycin (median 270 mg) and cisplatin (median 540 mg) in three or four courses which included vinblastine or etoposide. Patients in ps I and II were similar with respect to age, general health, observation period, inspired oxygen fraction (FiO2) and maximal arterial oxygen pressure (pO2) at RPLND, but four (8.2%) with psII disease developed densities on chest X-ray during chemotherapy. At the long-term follow-up the groups were similar with respect to physical exercise, smoking pattern, present drug treatment and history of cardiopulmonary disease. In both groups forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), and single breath transfer factor for carbon monoxide (TLCO) were within normal limits, and no difference was found between the groups. The combined data for both groups showed that smoking was highly associated with impairment in TLCO (P = 0.005), and smoking frequency was negatively correlated to TLCO (P = 0.002). We conclude that 3-4 courses with bleomycin, cisplatin and etoposide/vinblastine in testicular cancer patients do not lead to long-term impairment of pulmonary function.