Background: Worldwide marked changes have been observed in the incidence and survival of testicular cancer (TC) during the last decades.
We conducted a study on trends in TC incidence, treatment, survival, and mortality in the Netherlands during the period 1970-2009 with specific focus on trends according to age, histology and stage of disease.
Methods: Data from the Eindhoven cancer registry, the Netherlands cancer registry and Statistics Netherlands was used. Age-standardized incidence and mortality rates and five-year relative survival were calculated. Treatment was categorized into five major groups.
Results: TC incidence showed a substantial annual increase of 3.9% in the period 1989-2009. The incidence increased for all stages of both seminoma and non-seminoma TC. Stage distribution for the non-seminoma patients shifted towards more localized disease. Most patients received primary treatment according to the guidelines. Five-year relative survival improved (non-significantly) for most groups of stage and histology. TC mortality dropped sharply in the 1970s and 1980s and remained relatively stable thereafter.
Conclusion: This study shows that incidence of TC has increased sharply in the Netherlands. Relative survival is high and improved in most disease stages. There is a growing demand for medical care of newly diagnosed TC patients and for the rapidly increasing number of prevalent TC patients.
Written by:
Verhoeven RH, Karim-Kos HE, Coebergh JW, Brink M, Horenblas S, de Wit R, Kiemeney BA. Are you the author?
Eindhoven Cancer Registry/Comprehensive Cancer Centre South, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Reference: Acta Oncol. 2013 Aug 30. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.3109/0284186X.2013.819992
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 23992111
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