[Five cases of primary intracranial germ cell tumor treated by combination chemotherapy with cisplatin]

Five cases of non-germinoma germ cell tumor which received combination chemotherapy with cisplatin were studied to elucidate the efficacy of chemotherapy. The patients' ages ranged from 7 to 24 years old. Three of the patients were male and two were female. Locations of the tumors were suprasellar in three cases, pineal in one case and basal ganglia in the other. Three of the 5 tumors were histologically verified as yolk sac tumors, embryonal carcinoma and HCG_producing germinoma. Two were histologically unverified HCG-producing tumors. Following the reception of PVB therapy (cisplatin, vincristine and bleomycin) by all the patients, three of the HCG-producing tumors showed complete remission and two of AFP producing tumors demonstrated partial remission, and progressive healing process, respectively. Renal dysfunction in two case, leukopenia in two cases and lung fibrosis in one cae were noted as side effects. Two cases were treated only with cisplatin because ling fibrosis due to administration of bleomycin was intractable and harmful. Also the time when irradiation. It seemed better to administer chemotherapeutic agents prior to or during irradiation on account of the fact that, after radiotherapy, there is reduced blood flow in the tumor region. Also, CDDP acts as a radiosensitizer. Therefore, individual administration of cisplatin during irradiation was recommended for the initial chemotherapy against the case of non-germinoma germ cell tumors, in which an intractable side effect might be expected.