Intracranial germ cell tumors: experience in King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital

A retrospective study was performed on 69 patients with intracranial germ cell tumors who were treated at the Division of Radiation Oncology, Department of Radiology, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital from 1990 to 2000. Median age was 15 years. Forty-two cases (60.87%) had histologically confirmed germinoma or nongerminomatous germ cell tumors. Germinoma was the predominate histology followed by mixed germ cell tumors. Pineal and suprasellar regions were the two leading sites, hydrocephalus (85.5%) and diplopia (57.97%) were the two most common clinical presentations. Only 13 cases had the result of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytology or magnetic resonance imagine (MRI) of the spine before initial treatment. Serum tumor markers, Alpha fetoprotein and beta-human chorionic gonadotropin, were available in 66.67 per cent. Total or partial tumor removal were feasible in 24 cases. Whole brain irradiation was given in almost all cases with the median dose of 3,600 cGy. The median total tumor dose was 5,400 cGy. Whole spine radiation was utilized in 17 cases. The mean follow-up time was 41 months. The five-year disease free survival was 73.59 per cent. Overall 3 and 5 year survival rates were 86.45 per cent and 81.64 per cent, respectively.