Malignant germ cell tumor of the mediastinum: a multimodality therapeutic approach.
Twenty-five patients with a malignant germ cell tumor of the mediastinum were treated at the National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo. Three patients had pure seminomas while 22 had a nonseminomatous histology. The treatment modalities consisted of surgery alone in 7 patients, surgery with chemotherapy and/or radiation in 14, and chemotherapy and/or radiation without surgery in 4. Cisplatin-based chemotherapy was administered in nine patients, one of whom successfully underwent high-dose chemotherapy with autologous bone marrow transplantation after resection of the tumor. A complete response was achieved in only five patients. The overall survival rate at 5 years was 33.5% and the median survival time was 51 weeks. Eight patients (32%), all of whom underwent surgery either with or without chemotherapy and/or radiation, were free of disease with a mean follow-up period of 439 weeks (72-1,120 weeks). The median survival times for 14 patients undergoing combined modality treatment, 7 patients undergoing surgery alone, and 4 patients undergoing chemotherapy and/or radiation were 83, 16, and 18 weeks, respectively.
Asamura
H
H
Division of Thoracic Surgery, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
Tsuchiya
R
R
Goya
T
T
Kondo
H
H
Naruke
T
T
Saijo
N
N
Suemasu
K
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D018237:Germinoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008479:Mediastinal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate