Prostatic metastases from testicular nonseminomatous germ cell cancer: two case reports and a review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Prostatic metastases from testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs) are extremely uncommon. To the best of our knowledge, only five cases of prostatic metastases from seminoma have been reported in the literature. Conversely, no cases of metastases to the prostate from nonseminomatous germ cell tumors (NSGCT) have been previously reported.

CASE PRESENTATION: We present two patients who developed prostatic metastases 5 and 21 years after the initial diagnosis. The first case concerned a 28-year-old Caucasian man who underwent a right orchiectomy and right retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND) for a stage I NSGCT in 1999 and five years later was diagnosed with prostatic metastases. The second case concerned a 30-year-old man treated with a right orchiectomy and right RPLND for stage I NSGCT in 1985 who was diagnosed with prostatic metastases in 2006, 21 years after primary surgery. We reviewed the available literature on the topic.

CONCLUSION: Prostatic metastases from TCGTs are highly unusual. Lower urinary tract symptoms in patients treated for previous testicular cancer require immediate clinical attention. However, because of their extreme rarity, specific clinical investigations to screen for possible prostatic involvement from TGCT should not be recommended.