I have Stage I Seminoma with two risk factors - tumor greater than 4cm (mine being 5) and invasion of the rete testis.
Rete testis is an anastomosing network of delicate tubules located in the hilum of the testicle (mediastinum testis) that carries sperm from the seminiferous tubules to the vasa efferentia. Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rete_testis
This information was kindly given to me from Fed at tc-cancer.com
The most thorough analysis of [seminoma relapse risk factors] has been carried out by Warde and coworkers [...]. Their analysis indicated that a primary tumor size greater than 4 cm, invasion of the rete testis, lymphovascular invastion and/or the presence of anaplastic (as opposed to classic) seminoma increase the likelihood of a relapse, particularly if multiple factors were present. Of these, tumor size and rete testis invasion are the most important prognostic factors that would deem a patient as "high risk" for relapse. In patients without any of these factors the relapse rate was 12% compared with 32% if two or more risk factors were present.
Source: Expert Rev. Anticancer Ther. 8(7), (2008)
My doc also gave me a paper to read. It wasn't the easiest thing to follow. It is titled Prognostic Factors for Relapse in Stage 1 Seminoma Managed by Surveillance: A Pooled Analysis. According to this report I have a 31.5% chance of relapse within the first 5 years. It is very detailed with relapse-free rate graphs based on risk factors over a 15+ year period. If anyone wants a PDF copy of this paper please email me.
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