TREATMENT OF TESTICULAR SEMINOMA IN PATIENTS WITH HIV-INFECTION - REPORT OF 2 CASES

The problem of adequate management of testicular germ cell tumors in patients with AIDS is increasingly important, as reflected by the increasing number of reports on the unclear pathogenetic association of the two conditions. Two HIV-positive patients (32 and 39 years old) at CDC stages II and IIb with pure seminoma have been treated. Both patients initially underwent semicastration. One patient (tumor stage IIa) then had retroperitoneal radiotherapy, and the other (tumor stage IIc) four cycles of carboplatin therapy. They have had no relapse after 35 and 14 months, respectively, and there has been no progression in the HIV infection stage. Stage-oriented treatment for testicular germ-cell tumors can, in principle, be applied in patients with HIV infection. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy do not necessarily lead to a deterioration in the clinical state of health of the immune status of HIV-infected patients and carboplatin monotherapy is an effective treatment with few side effects in patients with metastatic seminoma.