These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: The value of AFP and HCG half lives in predicting the efficacy of combination chemotherapy in patients with non-seminomatous germ cell tumors of the testis.
    Author: Willemse PH, Sleijfer DT, Schraffordt Koops H, De Bruijn HW, Oosterhuis JW, Brouwers TM, Ockhuizen T, Marrink J.
    Journal: Oncodev Biol Med; 1981; 2(1-2):129-34. PubMed ID: 6170953.
    Abstract:
    The decline of serum levels of AFP or HCG in 26 patients with disseminated non-seminomatous germ cell tumors during chemotherapy showed two different patterns: a linear decline or an increasing apparent half life (AHL). The initial AFP half life in 13 patients with a linear decline was 7.2 +/- 1.8 days, and did not differ from the initial half life in 5 patients with a curvi-linear pattern. HCG half life was 3.0 +/- 0.5 days in 10 patients with a linear AHL, and was not different from the initial half life in 6 patients with delayed marker disappearance. Based on the half life pattern of AFP or HCG the result of chemotherapy was predicted. When AFP or HCG showed a linear decline, all viable tumor appeared to be eliminated in 38 and 40% respectively of the patients. An increasing AHL indicated the presence of active tumor, mostly mature teratoma, in 60% of the patients with AFP and in 83% of the patients with HCG. Thus, the pattern of AFP or HCG half life does not predict the eventual outcome of chemotherapy with certainty.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]