Treatment and prognosis of patients with intracranial nongerminomatous malignant germ cell tumors: a multiinstitutional retrospective analysis of 41 patients

Background: The relative roles of surgical resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy in the management of patients with intracranial nongerminomatous malignant germ cell tumors have been controversial. The authors retrospectively investigated the results of different treatment regimens in patients with these tumors.

Methods: The records of 41 patients who were treated between 1981 and 2001 were reviewed. They were grouped into patients with a good prognosis (n=3), an intermediate prognosis (n=24), and a poor prognosis (n=14) based on the histology of their tumors. Fifteen patients (37%) underwent surgical resection and received radiotherapy, and 26 patients (63%) also received chemotherapy. The median follow-up of 18 patients who remained alive was 61 months (range, 14-194 months).

Results: The 5-year actuarial overall survival rates for patients in the good prognosis, intermediate prognosis, and poor prognosis groups were 100%, 68%, and 8%, respectively. In the analysis, histology alone had a statistically significant impact on overall survival (P<0.0001). All 3 patients in the good prognosis group were treated successfully with surgical resection and radiotherapy. In the intermediate prognosis group, the 5-year actuarial overall survival rate was 44% for patients who underwent surgical resection and received radiotherapy (n=9) and 84% for patients who also received chemotherapy (n=15; P=0.01). Patients in the poor prognosis group who underwent surgical resection and received radiotherapy (n=3) or who underwent incomplete resection and received both radiotherapy and chemotherapy (n=8) all died of disease, whereas 2 of 3 patients who underwent macroscopic total resection and received both radiotherapy and chemotherapy survived free of disease.

Conclusions: The treatment of patients with intracranial nongerminomatous malignant germ cell tumors should be based on tumor histology. For patients who had a good prognosis (mature teratoma with germinoma), surgical resection and radiotherapy were sufficient; however, for patients in the intermediate prognosis group, multimodal treatment, including surgical resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, was effective. Conversely, for patients in the poor prognosis group, more intensive multimodal treatment, including macroscopic total resection, may improve the survival rate.