Objective: To assess the tolerance of adjuvant radiotherapy in the treatment of stage I seminoma post-orchiectomy.
Material and methods: Between 2001 and 2006, 21 men with stage I seminoma underwent 3D conformal radiotherapy 3 to 4 weeks post-orchiectomy. The total radiation dose was 2490 cGy divided into 15 sessions. Radiation was delivered by 2 antero-posterior fields using X-ray photons of 18 MV. Two types of radiation fields were used : para-aortic and ipsilateral iliac (dog leg) or para-aortic only. The average followup was 2 years 4 months with an interval of 4 to 58 months. Tolerance of treatment was evaluated according to criteria of the RTOG.
Results: Median follow-up time is 30 months. Disease-free survival was 100%. The most frequently encountered acute toxicity was gastrointestinal; mainly nausea and vomiting. Tolerance to treatment was better in the group receiving para-aortic radiotherapy alone (37% of grade II gastrointestinal toxicity vs 62%)
Conclusion: The para-aortic irradiation for stage I seminoma gave satisfactory results with a better toxicity profile than the dogleg irradiation.