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Active, not recruitingNCT02341989SWENOTECA-ABCUpdated Dec 2, 2025

Adjuvant Bleomycin, Etoposide and Cisplatin (BEP) Versus Carboplatin in Stage I Seminomatous Testicular Cancer

A Phase 3 interventional study of Bleomycin Etoposide and Cisplatin and Carboplatin in Testicular Neoplasms and Seminoma, sponsored by St. Olavs Hospital. Active, not recruiting at 2 sites in Norway. Open to male participants aged 18 Years to 60 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-12-02.

Sponsored by St. Olavs Hospital · Phase 3, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
348
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 60 Years
Sex
Male
01

Study summary

One course of adjuvant carboplatin AUC7 is considered internationally to be a standard treatment option in clinical stage I seminoma, regardless of risk factors. Treatment is based on a large, randomized phase III study comparing adjuvant carboplatin with adjuvant radiotherapy. This study was done without registering data on possible risk factor for relapse. The relapse rate following carboplatin was in this study estimated to be 5.3 %. Data from a prospective, risk-adapted Spanish study showed that patients without risk factors had a very low risk of relapse, even without adjuvant treatment. This result is also confirmed by a recent analysis of SWENOTECA VII data, showing that this group of patients has a risk of relapse of less than 5 % without adjuvant treatment.

Combined data from SWENOTECA V and VII studies indicate a high risk of relapse in patients with one or two risk factors (tumor 4 cm, stromal invasion of rete testis) treated with one course of adjuvant carboplatin. The relapse rate in this group of patients was 9.4 %, indicating a very modest effect of one course of adjuvant carboplatin. If adjuvant chemotherapy is the preferred treatment strategy, more potent chemotherapy regimens should be explored in this patient group. The results from SWENOTECA III/VI studies with one course of cisplatin-based adjuvant chemotherapy in clinical stage I nonseminoma, show a very low rate of relapse. As seminoma is even more chemosensitive than nonseminoma the relapse rate following one course of adjuvant BEP is expected to be very low, close to 1 %.

The overall aim is to investigate whether one course of adjuvant BEP have a lower relapse rate than one course of adjuvant carboplatin AUC7. In addition, it will be investigated if there is a difference in health related quality of life as well as acute and long-term toxicities from treatment.

Read the detailed description

Short term overall survival is, regardless of treatment allocation, expected to be very close to 100 %. The primary outcome is relapse rate. The power of the study depends on the number of observed relapses. If the relapse rate in the adjuvant carboplatin group, the reference group, is lower than the anticipated 9 %, we need to include more patients to the study. Based on all previous published material on adjuvant treatment in clinical stage I seminoma it is not possible to precisely estimate the correct relapse rate until the median follow-up is four years. Consequently, we will estimate the relapse rate in the reference group close to the end of accrual. If the estimated relapse rate, and thus the number of relapses, is lower than the anticipated we will increase the sample size to make sure that the study meets the minimum required number of relapses in the reference group. A possible inclusion of more study participants does not compromise the Type I error rate of the study.

02

Conditions studied

  • Testicular Neoplasms
  • Seminoma

Keywords

  • Chemotherapy, adjuvant
  • Recurrence
  • Carboplatin
  • Bleomycin
  • Etoposide
  • Cisplatin
03

In context

Testicular Neoplasms

295 studies on the registry are indexed under Testicular Neoplasms; 51 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 348 is above the median of 50 across 190 interventional studies indexed under Testicular Neoplasms.

Browse Testicular Neoplasms studies →

Lead sponsor

St. Olavs Hospital is the lead sponsor of 171 studies on the registry; 29 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 60 Years
Sexes eligible
Male
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Histological diagnosis of unilateral seminoma testicular cancer, evaluating both size of tumor and invasion of the rete testis
  • Clinical stage I
  • Tumor size over 4 cm and/or stromal invasion of the rete testis by tumor cells
  • Normal value of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) before orchiectomy. A stable, slightly elevated AFP as a normal value may be permitted.
  • Age ≥ 18 years and \< 60 years
  • Adequate organ function defined as:

Serum (ALT) ≤ 1.5 x (ULN). Total serum ≤ 1.5 x ULN (ANC) ≥ 1.5 x 109/L ≥ 100 x 109/L > 50 ml/min () All fertile patients should use safe Written

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Signs of disease evaluated by CT thorax, abdomen and pelvis. Patients in need of restaging (see SWENOTECA IX) should not be included
  • Prior diagnosis of testicular cancer
  • Chronic pulmonary disorders giving a high risk of bleomycin induced toxicity (for example or lung fibrosis)
  • Cancer other than seminoma testicular cancer
  • Known or for the study drugs
  • Serious concomitant systemic disorders (for example active infection, unstable cardiovascular disease) that in the opinion of the investigator would compromise the patient's ability to complete the study or interfere with the evaluation of the efficacy and safety of the study treatment
  • Medical, social, psychological conditions that could prevent adequate information and follow-up
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(13)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)

The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.

It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

Creatinine clearance (CrCl)

How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.

GFR and eGFR (kidney filtering)

GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².

Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Metastases

Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.

COPD

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: long-term lung disease that makes it hard to breathe out, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Hypersensitivity

An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
348 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Bleomycin-Etoposide-Cisplatin

    One course of adjuvant BEP.

    Drug: Bleomycin Etoposide and Cisplatin

  • Active comparator
    Carboplatin

    One course of adjuvant carboplatin AUC7

    Drug: Carboplatin

Interventions

  • DrugBleomycin Etoposide and Cisplatin

    Also known as: BEP

  • Also known as: Carboplatin AUC7

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Relapse rate

    Time frame: 10 years

07

Study locations

2 sites
08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Started Apr 2015 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for May 2027, 145 months after the start.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Jan 14, 2015
First posted
Jan 19, 2015
StartActual
Apr 8, 2015
Primary completionEst.
May 2027
CompletionEst.
May 2032
Last update
Dec 2, 2025
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Dec 2, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02341989
Lead sponsor
St. Olavs Hospital
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jan 19, 2015
Start date
Apr 8, 2015
Primary completion
May 2027 (estimated)
Completion
May 2032 (estimated)
Last update
Dec 2, 2025

Study contacts

Olof Ståhl, Md PhD
principal investigator · Skane University Hospital
Torgrim Tandstad, MD PhD
principal investigator · St. Olavs Hospital

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Dec 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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