Treatment of malignant nondysgerminomatous germ cell tumors of the ovary with vincristine, dactinomycin, and cyclophosphamide

Eighty patients with malignant nondysgerminomatous germ cell tumors of the ovary were treated with the combination of vincristine, dactinomycin, and cyclophosphamide (VAC) at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute. All patients underwent initial surgery: biopsy alone in 3 patients, unilateral salpingo‐oophorectomy in 48 patients, and bilateral salpingo‐oophorectomy with or without hysterectomy in 29 patients. Sixty‐six patients received VAC as primary postoperative therapy; 46 patients (70%) achieved a sustained remission. VAC produced sustained remission in 86% of patients with Stage I, 57% of patients with Stage II, 50% of patients with Stage III, and no patients with Stage IV disease. For patients with Stage I disease, survival rates did not differ among histologic groups, but in advanced disease, patients with immature teratoma did significantly better than the others. Four of the 20 patients who failed primary VAC therapy were salvaged with other therapies, and 8 of 14 treated with VAC after relapse or failure of other treatments were salvaged. Although VAC produces excellent results with very acceptable toxicity in patients with Stage I disease and advanced immature teratoma, survival of patients with other advanced histologic types has been disappointing. The authors are therefore treating this latter group with alternative therapy such as vinblastine, bleomycin, and cisplatin with the goal of achieving improved efficacy.