title: Primary malignant mediastinal germ-cell tumors and the contribution of radiotherapy: a southeastern multi-institutional study.
abstract: A retrospective review was performed by a multi-institutional study group to determine the contribution of radiotherapy to the management of primary malignant mediastinal germ-cell tumors. Twenty-seven patients diagnosed with a primary mediastinal germ-cell tumor between January 1965 and July 1985 form the basis of this study. Twenty-five of the 27 patients were male. Thirteen patients' tumors were diagnosed as seminoma and the remaining 14 patients' tumors had other germ-cell histologies. The single most important prognostic factor was histology, with a 5-year actuarial survival of 100% for the seminomas and only 8.8% for the remaining germ-cell varieties. If total surgical extirpation is not possible, biopsy may be adequate. Of the patients with seminoma, 11 of 12 had local control, and 3 of the 12 patients were treated with doses between 3,000 and 3,100 cGy. High doses for this variety of mediastinal germ-cell tumor might not be required. For the germ-cell tumors other than seminoma, no patient had local control with doses over the range of 3,000-4,750 cGy.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002822:Choriocarcinoma / Q000532:radiotherapy; D004407:Dysgerminoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008479:Mediastinal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D009373:Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D011379:Prognosis; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013724:Teratoma / Q000532:radiotherapy