Immunoradioautography test for alpha‐fetoprotein in the differential diagnosis of germinogenic tumors of the testis and in the evaluation of effectiveness of their treatment

Abstract

Abstract The diagnostic value of detecting AFP with the indirect immunoradioautography (IR) method has been investigated for teratoblastomas of the testis in adult patients. It is shown that the IR method permits an approximately two‐fold increase in the number of serologically diagnosed teratoblastomas, as compared with the standard gelprecipitation method. The results for patients with primary testicular teratoblastomas were 19 AFP‐positives in a group of 21 (90.5%). The diagnostic specificity of the test has been lowered insignificantly with the high‐sensitivity method: only 8 AFP‐positive cases were found in a control group of 215 patients, and all the seropositives suffered from tumors of the gastro‐intestinal tract with metastases to the liver. Application of the IR method has greatly increased the possibility of following the course of disease and effectiveness of treatment by the AFP test; in a number of cases it has also permitted a more accurate diagnosis of primary tumor, when metastases are present.