Description
Testicular, ovarian, and germ cell neoplasms are composed primarily of testicular, ovarian, or extragonadal germ cell tumors (no primary tumor in either testis or ovary). Germ cell tumors are classified by their histology, stage, prognosis, and response to chemotherapy.
Therapy for germ cell tumors is generally dictated by several factors, including disease stage, tumor histology, site of tumor primary, and response to chemotherapy. Individuals with unfavorable prognostic factors may be candidates for hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT).
HCT involves the intravenous (IV) infusion of allogeneic (donor) or autologous stem cells to reestablish hematopoietic function in individuals whose bone marrow or immune system is damaged or defective. They can be harvested from bone marrow, peripheral blood, or umbilical cord blood and placenta shortly after delivery of neonates.
For the purposes of this policy, the term reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) will refer to all conditioning regimens intended to be non-myeloablative, as opposed to fully myeloablative (traditional) regimens.
