Testicular cancer q - odin

[ArchivalUser]

Radiation is never used for early stage pure seminomas, never unless the patient just wants it instead of chemotherapy. It could be used for late along with chemotherapy. The only reason any patient would opt for radiation over chemotherapy would be if they want 15 treatments of radiation compared to 2 or 4 treatments of chemotherapy to achieve the same result.

I agree with sadhan, this question is total nonsense! Post surgery the surgeon reports that it is limited only to the testis and the pathology report proves that it is seminoma(I wonder if this means pure seminoma) but yet the answer wants us to treat the tumor as if it isn't what the pathology report indeed finds. One thing I can guarantee you is that actually looking at the tumor itself under the microscope and staging it and identifying the tumor type completely supersedes what lab findings might indicate. For someone to have a tumor and to get it cut out and for the pathologist to look at it and report that it is a specific type of tumor and then to have treat it as if it could be another type of tumor simply because a lab value is elevated is pure nonsense and this question should be thrown out. I believe even considering this question further will confuse you more than it will help you.

[ArchivalUser]

superpancreas, I said nonsense with regard to treatment options they asked because it is not at step 3 level. But elevated AFP excludes pure Seminoma is a board question and it is very important. They want us to know that even when pathology indicates seminoma if AFP is elevated, PURE SEMINOMA IS OUT! This point is very important. In general, a patient diagnosed with a seminoma who has elevated AFP is assumed to have nonseminomatous components and treated accordingly. Read differential diagnosis in this article http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/732083_3