Treatment strategies for initially disseminated intracranial germinomas: experiences at a single institute

Abstract

Purpose: Initially disseminated intracranial germinomas (IDIGs) can be observed in pre-adult and adolescent brain tumor patients. However, the disease prognosis is undetermined, and the method of optimal treatment remains controversial.

Methods: From January 1990 to January 2011, data on 91 intracranial germinoma patients (≤20 years old) were gathered from the Pediatric Brain Tumor database at Taipei Veterans General Hospital. A total of seven patients with a median age of 17.0 years had IDIGs (lesion sites >2), including IDIGs in the ventricular system or the spinal column. Craniospinal irradiation (CSI) plus a primary or metastatic boost was the mainstay strategy for radiotherapy. Six out of a total of seven patients (85.7%) also received systemic chemotherapy (CHT) after radiotherapy. Survivals rates between IDIGs and patients without dissemination were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.

Results: The median follow-up time for all seven patients was 67.5 months (range, 10.3-142.3 months). None of the IDIG patients experienced a recurrence or mortality after the completion of treatment. The 5- and 10-year disease-free survival (DFS) between IDIG and non-dissemination patients were 100%, 100%, 93.0% and 78.6%, respectively (p = 0.339). The 5- and 10-year overall survival (OS) between IDIGs and non-dissemination cases were 100%, 100%, 93.7% and 89.4%, respectively (p = 0.473).

Conclusions: IDIG patients did not show reduced survival compared to non-dissemination patients if optimal radiotherapy and chemotherapy were used together.