Long-term results of radiotherapy for intracranial germinoma: a multi-institutional retrospective review of 126 patients

Lack of benefit of spinal irradiation in the primary treatment of intracranial germinoma

“…18,24,[42][43][44] Our study could not show that a tumor size of 4 cm or more, female gender, or multifocal or disseminated tumors were associated with unfavorable event-free survival. However, there have been few studies showing the clinical value of tumor size for the prognosis of patients with intracranial germinoma.…”

“…18,24 Haddock reported that the incidence of intracranial recurrence in patients treated with local irradiation was 36%, and incidence of intracranial recurrence in patients treated with whole-brain irradiation or craniospinal irradiation were less than 10%. 8 Aoyama evaluated patients with pathologically confirmed germinoma and reported a 10-year event-free survival rate of only 22% in patients treated with limited local irradiation.…”

“…3,5,7,8,13,14 In cases to be treated with definitive radiotherapy alone, whole-brain or whole-ventricle irradiation should be used for patients with solitary localized tumors. 24 Local recurrence after definitive radiotherapy was rare. Previous reports showed that radiation doses Ͻ 50 Gy were associated with high local recurrence.…”

“…The incidence of pretreatment hormonal abnormalities in patients with germinomas ranged from 25% to 70%, and the incidence of patients with newly developed hormonal abnormalities after treatment ranged from 0% to 12%. 10,13,16,19,24 Patients should be examined for the presence of hormonal abnormalities before and after treatment to correctly evaluate the influence of treatment on the occurrence of adverse effects.…”

“…42,45 However, Ogawa and other investigators reported that there was no significant difference between the survival of patients with and without STGC. 24,43 It will be important in future studies to evaluate whether these clinical parameters are truly associated with the treatment outcome.…”